


Rivals Are My Friends

by JinkazuVaSage05



Category: Yandere Simulator (Video Game)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Bromance, Developing Friendships, Every other rival is along on this otaku ride, F/M, Genderbending, Hanako is a frequent anime watcher, Humor, Male Rival Intro., Male Rivals (Yandere Simulator), Passive!Ayano Aishi, and thinks the world works like anime, talking out feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2020-08-31 23:38:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20248531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinkazuVaSage05/pseuds/JinkazuVaSage05
Summary: She did it. She finally did it. Ayano Aishi confessed to her senpai, Taro Yamada, and he returned her feelings. That myth of the cherry blossom tree worked...and all of her careful planning without shedding a single ounce of blood.Now that Taro is dating Ayano, where does that leave his little brother and best friend, Hanako and Osano? Well, to go on a mission to make a few new friends.





	1. Pink Milkshakes

**Author's Note:**

> Hanako is having worry-filled thoughts about his brother's new relationship and decides to talk to Osano.

"Osano! Osano! Hey, Osano! Get up, or else we're going to be late!" 

Osano Najimi groans and pulls the pillow over his head, practically suffocating himself to block out the noise of the younger Yamada. 

No, no, no. This was all wrong. This was supposed to be the other way around. With Osano banging on the Yamada's door like the police early in the morning, nagging at Taro and Hanako to hurry or else they would be late and continuing on as the three of them walked to school. 

So why was Hanako here at--Osano reaches out from the pillow to retrieve his phone on the bedside dresser, squinting to read the time--6:53 in the morning. Osano screams into the pillow before getting out of bed and stomping over to his bedroom door, swinging it open as Hanako Yamada was mid knock. They stare at each other for a moment before Osano quietly (which was unusual and scary) asks. "What the hell are you doing here?" 

"Morning Osano~!" Hanako happily greets, paying no mind to the obviously irritated one. "I'm here so we can walk to school toge--" 

"No, Baka! I know why you're here! I'm asking why the hell are you here so early?!" Osano starts walking towards the bathroom. He might as well get ready since he's up. Hanako follows after him, "I don't want us to be late for school~!"

Osano mumbled under his breath and Hanako blushes at the string of curses he was able to pick up on. Osano walks into the bathroom and slammed the door in Hanako's face, barely missing his poor nose. He stands there for a moment confused as he didn't get a clear answer. "Osano! Are we still going together?" 

"Of course we are! Damn! You already ruined my sleep, Can I shower in peace?!" The sound of running water makes Hanako back away and let out a string of apologies. "Just get away from the door or wait downstairs! Idiot! Just like your lovesick brother!" 

~~♡~~

"Sorry about waking you up so early Osano." 

"Yeah, yeah just shut up, Hanako." 

Osano's sour mood didn't diminish Hanako's ever-cheerful one as he skipped alongside his orange-haired friend. "Why were you at my house so early again? You know I meet you and Taro at your house." 

"I know, I know, but," Hanako looks down at his hands. "He left early again with Ayano. He's been more busy with her ever since--" 

"Ever since they started dating. I know." Osano finished. "Damn Baka. It took me a whole damn army to get him to leave the house 5 minutes early, but all it takes is one pretty girl and now he leaves before the crack of dawn." Osano looks at the shorter boy and sees a smug look on his face. "What?" 

"You think Ayano is pretty, huh~?" Hanako teases him. Osano turns red enough to put his hair to shame and chokes up. "S-Shut up, Baka! That's not what I meant!" 

"Yes, it is~!" 

"No, it isn't! Shut up!" 

~~♡~~

Hanako peaks his head into class 2-1, his big onyx eyes scanning the room partially filled with students waiting for homeroom to begin until he finds the familiar head of orange hair, head down and asleep on his desk. 

The black-haired boy approaches the desk and pokes Osano a few times in the cheek with a pen. He stirs and cracks his eyes and almost groans at the sight of the underclassman. "This is...the second time you ruined my sleep, Hanako. This better be good or I swear--" 

"CanIseeyourhomework?" Hanako asked so fast it took Osano a minute to decipher. Once he figured it out, he lets out an irritated groan. 

"You wanna copy my homework again?!" 

"I know! I know! But when I first looked at it, the questions were really hard and I decided to do it at home..." Hanako shyly fiddles with the heart hair clip in his hair at the next part, "...but I got distracted and forgot to do it." 

"Distracted by what?" 

_ 'I am Sailor Moon, the champion of justice. In the name of the moon, I will right wrong and triumph over evil...and that means you!' Hanako sits in front of the TV, absorbed into the episode he's seen a hundred times. _

_ "Hanako!" _

_ "Yes, mom?!" _

_ "Are you doing your homework?" _

_ "Yes, mom!" _

_ "Are you sure? Because it sounds like your watching Sailor Moon!" _

_ "It's just for background noise!" Hanako responds and doesn't make a move from the floor, only reaching across the floor for his can of soda. His bookbag with his homework remained in the dark corner of the room. The homework sheet remained his bag for the rest of the night, with only Hanako's name and date filled out. _

"You're a complete dumbass, airheaded, idiot. You got distracted by _ Sailor Moon, _the show you've seen a hundred times?!" Hanako strains a smile and nervously laughs. Osano scolds him but still reaches into his bag and hands over his sheet of homework. Hanako smile and bows in thanks before quickly getting to work at copying. 

Osano watches the sad sight of procrastination, "Did you even try?"

"To do my homework?" Hanako pauses in copying. 

"No, Baka. I know how you work. You look at the first question and get halfway through it, mentally, before quitting on it. It's amazing how you pass tests…" Osano mumbled the last part. "I'm talking about multitasking. Watch anime while doing your homework." 

Hanako bites the end of his pink pen as he looks at the ceiling. "Nope~! Never thought of that. That's why you're a genius~!" 

Osano shakes his head, "God, you're hopeless without me." 

~~♡~~

"Look at them...," Hanako looks over the railing at the scene Osano was referring too. From the roof they could see Taro and Ayano sitting by the fountain, eating their lunch. They were smiling and laughing, Ayano was even feeding him food from the homemade bento she brought for him and Taro was enjoying every moment of it. Both of them were enjoying it. The blush on their cheeks was proof of that. 

The scene was truly out the romance movies. It was adorable, loving...

"...It's disgusting." Osano almost breaks the chopsticks he was mindlessly chewing on. 

"That's mean, Osano! I think they look cute~" Hanako folds his arms and leans against the railing, smiling as he looked down at the scene. But the longer he looked at the happy couple, the longer he saw his brother smiling and laughing with someone else, his smile slowly started to drop. "...very cute." 

They sit in silence before Hanako leans back and decides to break it, "Osano, do you think…" He pauses. 

"Do I think what?" 

There was a mental debate in Hanako's mind about whether to ask the question that has been bothering him since his brother started dating or not. The wait was killing Osano. "Hanako!" 

"H-huh? What?" Hanako snaps out of his daze. 

"Baka, the question. You didn't finish your question. Do I think what?" Osano reminds him. 

"Oh…i-it's nothing that important." The debate came to a compromise that he would ask the question later and somewhere else. There were too many of their nosey peers around. Hanako continues eating as he thinks over a possible place they could blend in, with seclusion, privacy, and as low as a student body count as possible. 

Hanako almost chokes on his food when he knows the perfect place, "Hey Osano~!" 

Unfortunately, Osano did choke on his food at the sudden call and starts violently coughing, Hanako pats him on the back and gives a string of apologies. Once he stopped he snapped, "What the hell, Hanako?! Are you trying to kill me, Baka?!" 

"No, No! I swear, I just wanted to get your attention and suggest we go somewhere after school~!" Hanako hands over the bottle of water, "There's this new cafe that recently opened~! And it's a themed one~!" 

"What kind of themed cafe are we talking about?" Osano cautiously asks. The last time Hanako dragged him to a themed cafe, Osano felt like the cops should have busted in at any moment. 

"Oh don't worry about that~! You'll like it." 

Osano looks at Hanako strange, he didn't like that answer. "Okay." 

~~♡~~

"Hanako, what the hell is this?" 

Osano looks around the cafe that was colored with various shades of pink with the occasional splash of yellow or white. The colors in this place where so overpowering that it would honestly make Hello Kitty vomit. 

"It a cafe~!" Hanako simply responds and pouts when he sees his friend's dissatisfied expression. "Aww come on, you have to like something. You like cute things." 

"It would be cute if the colors weren't so…."Osano squints as the added bright sunlight seeps into the cafe and further enhancing the bright colors, almost blinding him. "....overpowering." Hanako simply laughs at his friend's childish displeasure. 

A waitress comes over and Hanako puts in orders for both of them. Osano steps in when Hanako orders him a strawberry milkshake, protesting that it was too girly. The waitress and Hanako stare at Osano's pink polka-dotted shirt and scrunchie holding his hair in a side ponytail, giving him a look that just said _ 'Really? You're talking about a milkshake being girly. Have you looked in the mirror lately?' _

Osano shuts up and crossed his arms, sinking into the seat with a blush on his face. 

When their orders came back, Osano takes a hesitant sip of the strawberry milkshake. It was overly pink to the point of being artificial. Despite the appearance, it was surprisingly good, addictive even. Osano noticed his friend hasn't touched his drink yet, "Hey, how come you aren't drinking yours?" 

"Huh? I will!" Hanako had been scanning the cafe to make sure it was clear of any of their classmates, relieved to see no one he recognized. Now it was a good time to ask. "Osano...do you think Nii-san has forgotten about us since he started dating Aya-chan?"

Osano almost spurted out his milkshake then and there. He stops drinking and started to snicker before fully laughing at how ridiculous that question was. Taro forgetting about him and his brother? "Ha-Hanako! You're joking!" 

"I'm not joking, Osano! I'm being serious!" The oranged haired boy scanned his friend's face. He was frowning and his big black eyes look at him with such morose. Osano's laughs simmer down until he finally realized Hanako wasn't joking. He's dead serious. 

"Hanako…look I'm sorry for laughing," Osano apologizes, "but it's kinda...silly for you to think Taro would forget about us after he started dating." 

"I know it's silly and you're right, but…." Hanako uses his straw to push the whipped cream down the pink mixture, "...i-it's one of those things you know won't happen and you laugh at yourself for how ridiculous it sounds, but you still can't help but think it will? I know Nii-san wouldn't forget about me and you just for his new girlfriend, but...what if he does?" 

"Hanako, how long have you been worrying about this?" 

"Oh! I've been worrying about this long before he started dating and just wrote it off as silly, but now that it's a reality…I can't write it as silly anymore." Hanako nervously fiddles with the heart hairpin, "Please don't get me wrong, Osano! I'm happy for Nii-san. 

I-I'm...to-the-moon-and-back happy for Nii-san. I told him that and my worries before he started dating. But I'm afraid to tell or even talk about this again and now because--" 

"You don't want him to think you're being selfish." Osano finishes and Hanako nods. The orange-haired boy thinks over what he just heard and sighs, "Baka…" 

"I know! I know! I'm an idiot and selfish for thinking this--" 

"You're not selfish for worrying about being forgotten and alone, but you're an idiot for thinking you're alone." Osano runs a hand through his hair, "Hanako, I'm going to admit something to you--and if you tell anyone this, especially your idiot brother, I'll hurt you!" Hanako quickly nods, understanding it was a promise, not a threat. 

Osano calms down and his voice gets quiet, "I may have had similar thoughts you are having. Where...Taro will forget about me and like you, I thought the idea was silly, I mean--" Osano scoffs, "--come on, I'm his childhood friend. We have known each other since we were in diapers. Hell, our moms have history with each other. He wouldn't forget all of that for Ayano, a very nice girl but he just started dating, but…" He fiddles with the red bracelets on his wrist, "...I still can't help but think if he did. Hanako, you see how I'm not good at expressing my…my..." 

Osano makes turnings gestures with his hands, urging himself to try and find the right words. Hanako tilts his head and suggests, "Feelings?" 

"Yes, my feelings! I'm not good at expressing them and, in turn, my words usually come out...a bit aggressive--" Hanako coughs, 'a bit' was an understatement. "--Shut up. So you see, If I was to tell him this, Taro would see me as being mostly jealous or selfish, but I'm not. Like you, I'm happy he found someone who can deal with his ass more than just a friend, but I'm just…" Osano pauses and looks down at the table, staring off into space, "....I'm just worried about losing one of my best friends." 

Hanako sadly sips at the now warm milkshake, there wasn't a lot of people Osano considered his friends, much less a best friend. "But then I realized…I have you Hanako." 

The black-haired boy bites on the straw and almost his tongue, looks at him with wide eyes, "W-what?" Hanako would always announce that Osano was his best friend and he was, but he never thought Osano felt the same. He always thought Osano wrote him off as 'his best friend's little annoying brother'. 

"Yeah, maybe you see it or not, but I consider you one of my best friends. Maybe you see it or not, you probably don't because of the way I act, but I consider you one of my best friends. Sure, you act like an airhead, a bit of a pain in my ass sometimes, and I would honestly sell your soul to Satan for one chip, but I care about you. And I think you're an idiot, and I'm a bit hurt, that you thought you couldn't tell me this earlier and thought you were going to be alone. Because if Taro ever forgets you, you're not going to be alone. You have me. And if he forgets both of us? Well, then we'll just have each other and maybe…" Osano swallows and felt like he was going to choke on the suggestion, "...maybe make a few new friends." 

Osano waits for a response or reaction, but he only received that wide-eyed stare and was a bit worried he broke the underclassman. But he didn't break the boy, Hanako was stunned like a deer in headlights at Osano's very heartfelt and emotional words. Except there was one part that brought tears to Hanako's eyes, "Why the hell are you crying? What it something--?" 

"New...friends?" 

"Um...yeah, I said new friends." Osano didn't know how that could make someone upset, but this was Hanako. "Is that what's making you upse--?" Hanako squeals and reaches over the table, tightly grasping Osano's hand, "New friends~?!" 

"Why are you holding my hand?" 

"Oh Osano, I never thought of that~! I've always had you and Nii-san, I never thought I would need more friends~! And you never look liked you wanted more friends, so this can be great for both of us~!" Hanako gasps at another realization, "Maybe we'll become one of those groups of friends I see in anime!" 

"Baka, let go of my hand and get your head out of the clouds! Not everything is like anime." Osano reasoned but it fell deaf to the young boy ears. 

"Everything is already set. We go to a high school in Japan. This-This place can be our central hang out until it gets to be too small for our expanding group, or it blows up for some reason--" The servers and customers nearby give the table strange looks and Osano wouldn't be surprised if the cops did bust in now. 

"--and we already fit the common character tropes! I'm the younger sibling of the protagonist--!" Hanako points to himself and Osano could swear he saw a spotlight shine down. 

The orange-haired boy, emotionally burnt out for today, slowly pulls his hand away and goes back to the strawberry milkshake, "--and you're the childhood friend plus tsundere!" 

Osano spurts out his drink, "Baka! Like hell I am!" 


	2. The Indestructible Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanako has the honor of meeting one of Osano's other best friends.

"So Osano, you said I'm one of your best friends?"

"Yes, are still doubting that?" Osano questions. He takes off his shoes and switched them to his indoor shoes. "I swear, baka, if you beg me to pour my emotions out here with everyone around, I'm going to--"

"No, No!" Hanako quickly denies, waving his hands a bit. "I'm just curious to know who your other best friends are, besides Nii-san and me. I never seen you buddy-buddy with anyone else." 

"That's because he's not here." Osano hums a bit and looks around at the lockers, "He actually hasn't been here for a while. Then again he said it would be a few days till he came back…" 

"Who?!" Hanako holds Osano's arm and shakes it a bit, "Who's this mystery best friend of yours?!" 

"Let go of me, baka! I said he isn't her--" 

"Yo, Osa!" A high pitched voice calls and both of them stop. Hanako didn't know how it happened, but one minute the voice is a few feet away and the next a shadow is towering over him. The black haired slowly turns around to see an almost a carbon copy of Osano with lighter orange hair and looking down at him with a closed eye smile. 

Hanako shivers and whines, hugging Osano's arm tighter when he receives a glare from honey eyes and a voice that dropped 5 octaves. "Is this little guy bothering you?" 

_ 'Oh crap, I'm going to die.' _

"What? Oh no, he's just…"Osano shakes Hanako off his arm and he immediately cowers behind him, "...being clingy as usual, but you don't need to hurt him. This is Taro's younger brother." 

"Oh!" The dark and threatening aura quickly disappears and is replaced with a happy and cheerful one. "My mistake. I thought he was bothering you." 

"Most do and it's great timing you showed up. We were just talking about you." 

"Good things I hope~!." 

"Rai," Osano drags a still petrified Hanako in front of him, "This is Hanako Yamada. Hanako, this is Raibaru Fumestu, one of my best friends." 

"I-It's--" Hanako cleared his throat as it came out squeaky, he still shaken up at the first impression. "--it's nice to meet you, Fumestu-senpai." 

"Fumestu-senpai?"Raiburu questions the title and Hanako thought he set him off, but Raiburu laughing and cupping his face to gently squish his cheeks proved the opposite. "Oh, Osa, you forgot to tell me he was so adorable and respectful~!" 

"Because I don't think he's adorable. He's a pain in my ass I know that." 

~~♡~~ 

Hanako knew he was shorter than most guys his age and that didn't bother him until a high shelf comes into play. But never has he felt so small from being sandwiched between two gingers. 

Hanako was able to get a closer look at Raiburu and saw the light orange hair was pulled back instead of the side and the scrunchie was like Osano's but light pink. Hanako could say that if Raiburu could pull off as Osano's double any day. 

"So how did your tournament go, Rai?" 

"Oh it was awesome and exciting, you should've been there, Osa!" Raiburu walks ahead a bit on the track, "I even took on two guys at one point. I may have gone a bit too far at one point by knocking someone's back tooth out--" 

_ 'He knocks out people's back teeth?' _

"--but it wasn't that bloody. It was like PG-13 Mortal Kombat if they took out all the brutalities and fatalities." 

_ 'Mortal Kombat is still terrifying without those two things!' _

"Awww, that does sound awesome." Osano whines at the missed opportunity. "Fumestu-senpai, what exactly do you do?" Hanako tries to push aside the first impression and get to know Osano's other best friend. 

"If you're referring to a job, I don't have one. Buuutt…" Raiburu taps his chin as he walks backwards, "...I guess being the Martial Arts club leader counts as a previous job." Hanako gasps, "You were the previous leader before Masuta-senpai?" 

"Yup~!" Raiburu confirms, "I know I probably don't look much like a fighter, but Osano will confirm." Hanako looked at Osano for confirmation. "Baka, why are looking at me like a kid wanting a bedtime story from their dad? Yeah he was the previous leader and he could kick my ass without breaking a sweat." 

"Oh, Osa now you're flattering me." 

"Flattering? It's true. Don't you remember the time we were in the store--" 

_ Osano looked between the two bottles he was holding, playing eenie-meenie to decide whether to get them calpico or ramune. That was proving to be a bit difficult since they liked both. "Hey, Rai!" _

_ A man's face is slammed into the ground. Raiburu plants a foot in his back and twists the arm back, making the man scream. "Now, didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders? I'm sure they did, but that lesson probably flew over your head." _

_ "Rai!" Raibaru looks back at the drink section. "Yeah, Os--" The upperclassman feels the man trying to squirm away and nicely twists his wrist. "Stay. Yeah, Osa?!" _

_ "Ramune or calpico?" Osano looks back and holds the two options, completely unfazed at hostile scene. _

_ "Ummm…" Raiburu drops the arm and taps his chin before shrugging, "...why not both?" _

_ Osano thinks it over, "Yeah...why the hell not? And Rai, maybe you should call the hospital." _

_ "Oh, he'll be fine. I barely broke anything." _

Raibaru laughs at the memory, "Oh those were fun times." Osano gives his a look, "Raiburu, that happened about the weekend before you left." 

"It did?" 

Hanako slows looks to side. This man can break people's bones and forgets he did it? How much power-- 

The sports team was not too far from the track and practicing baseball. One of the players hit the ball too far and out of bounds, flying right towards them. "Hey look out!" 

_ 'There's a disturbance in the peace.' _A spark of lightning set off in Raiburu's head and he catches the ball without turning around. Raiburu turns around to throw it back, "Nice hit, guys!" 

Hanako's jaw was to the floor and he kept shoving Osano's arm, "Di-Di-Did you see that, Osano?!" "Yes." 

"He just--!" Hanako mimics catching a ball, "--and then he just--!" Hanako acted like he was throwing the ball back. "How...How does he do that?! Is he the living embodiment of a 'crouching badass'?" 

"A crouching what?" 

"A crouching badass," Hanako states, "Like he acts all innocent or an idiot, but he's really a living badass. Like that Shaggy meme--" 

A hand covers Hanako's mouth, "I'm going to stop you right there, baka. Just go with the reason that he trained really hard." 


	3. Mint Macarons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanako finds another person to drag into his and Osano's duet.

Osano knew he didn’t set his alarm to play a song (Osano didn't set an alarm to begin with) because he knew he would get sick of hearing it and want to break the damn thing after three days. So when he woke up hearing  _ End of The World _ , he knew it was Hanako. It had to be him. It was the only explanation and he was the only one with enough balls to do it. 

Osano throws off the cover and breathes out at the sight of Hanako sitting at his desk humming and writing away at something. Hanako finally picks up on someone watching him and turns around, completely oblivious to the burning and tired glare. “Morning Osano~! Don’t mind me~! I”m just copying your homework--” 

“Why the hell…” Osano quietly starts, “Are you playing the 4th opening to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure...at 6 in the fucking morning?!” The black haired boy blinks and sadly responds, “But you like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure." 

Hanako shivers and nervously laughs as the glare intensified. Oh if only looks could kill. “You know I need background noise when I do homework--” 

“You can’t even get your homework done in dead silence,” Osano throws the cover back over his head and turned over, “Turn it the hell down or put headphones on and-You know what--!” A hand comes from under the cover and points at Hanako, “--Make yourself useful and wake me up in 10 minutes." 

~~♡~~ 

“Dammit Hanako, I said 10 minutes! Not 30 minutes!”    
  


“I’m sorry, Osano I just got caught up in the show...again.” Hanako didn't know how that was possible since half the shows he likes he's already seen them 5 times over. “Besides, you looked so peaceful sleeping and we got here on time~.” 

“Yeah, yeah…"Osano mutters and rubs his eyes, He was too tired to argue with Hanako's only two braincells. “Why were you in my house so early?” 

“Oh! I wanted us to get an early start on,” Hanako wraps an arm around Osano’s shoulder and waves his hand in a rainbow motion, “expaning our twosome--!”

A hand is smacked over Hanako’s mouth with the quickness and enough force to almost throw him back into the fountain. Osano leans in close and simply corrects, “Duo.”

“Hmph? A dwou?" Hanako's question comes out muffled. 

“Yes, call us a duo. A pair, a duet, or atleast a dyad, Hanako, but never a twosome. A twosome implies that we’re...” Osano points between them and whispers, "...intimate." 

Hanako frowns in confusion, "Bwut we are intamint." 

"No, you baka. Not the 'just friends' intimate, I'm talking about…" Osano thinks on how he could word this without breaking the younger Yamada's mind. "...the 'friends with benefits' intimate." 

"We dwon't gwive eachother bwenafits?" 

"Hello no, baka--!" 

There was a small tap on Osano's shoulder, “Excuse me,” Amao politely interrupts the pair. A pair that looked like Osano was holding Hanako hostage. Osano drops the hand and goes back to his normal tsundere self, but with a slight blush. “Yeah, what do you want?” 

“Osano, that's so rude!” Hanako reprimands his friend and hits his arm, “I’m sorry about him Odayaka-senpai, especially on your first day back.” 

Amao laughs and waved his hand to dismiss. "No, it's quite alright. I understand if he's tired and doesn't want to be bothered. Sometimes I get like that." 

Osano and Hanako looked at each other than the brunet in disbelief. When Amao Odayaka, the sweetest (pun intended) guy in school, is tired and doesn't want to be bothered he acts like Osano?...No that's not possible. Hanako looks at the basket Amao was carrying, "Ohhh, what's in the basket?" 

That question made Amao remember why he came over to the fountain. "Ah just some sweets I baked on my day back. I've been handing them to other students around," Amao digs into the basket and offers out two cupcakes to them,“and I wanted to extend the offer to you two." 

“Ahh, thank you, Odayaka-senpai~! Look Osano, they're cupcakes~!" "I can see that--" Hanako shoves one of the green frosted into Osano's hand before he could protest. "They're so cute and--" Hanako gasps, "they have little faces drawn on them~! Look, look--" 

“Baka, I can see that too! Dammit Hanako, I'm not blind.” Osano looks at the cupcake and they were a bit cute. He did feel a bit bad now for being so rude to Amao earlier. "Thank you, Odayaka. And...sorry for being so rude.” 

“Like I said, it's quite alright.” Amao gives a warming closed eye smile and Osano didn't know whether it was the sunlight or the pure blinding aura surrounding the club leader, but he had to shield his eyes to keep himself from going blind.  _ 'It's too early for this shit.'  _

“Amao!" Shoku calls to get the brunet's attention, "We should head back to the cooking club to drop this stuff off. Class is about to start.” Amao nods at the suggestion and bids Osano and Hanako goodbye before walking over to his club. 

“I can see why everyone sees him as an angel,” Osano rubs his eyes, “What would you call him? A cinnamon roll, right?” He didn't get a response and looks over at his friend. The young Yamada was staring at Amao with a blank look, like he was calculating something. “Hey, Hanako, didn't you hear me?” 

“H-Huh?" Hanako snapped out of his daze, "Yeah, he would be a cinnamon roll…" Maybe Hanako was being paranoid or overanalyzing things, but he noticed Amao's smile and charm was still friendly as always before he left for his break, but something seemed off...especially his smile. It seemed forced on like a mask to hide something. “...A cinnamon roll indeed. Osano…" 

"Yeah?" 

"Odayaka-senpai is in your class right?” 

~~♡~~ 

Osano didn’t find it weird to look at your classmates. In fact, Osano believes in the natural laws of school that when any student is in a boring class, anything in the room becomes 10 times more interesting. Even the plain painted and barren walls.

And that's how Osano felt in Rana's class every single damn day, bored and not understanding a single word out of his mouth. He usually doodled in his notebook and glanced at his classmates once in awhile, but today he was staring at one person in particular and he felt like a complete stalker. Amao was minding his own business and being a good cookie a couple desks over, following the lesson and taking notes. 

Hanako asked him to do it and Osano wanted to slap himself for not saying no. 

_ "Why do you want me to stalk him again?"  _

_ "It's not stalking. I just want you to observe him for a short amount of time without him noticing."  _

_ "...Hanako, that's basically what stalking is."  _

_ "Okay! So maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but that's not the point! Osano, I just want you to see if anything is wrong with him!" Hanako tightly hugs the orange haired boy's waist. Osano immediately tries to push him off, roughly shoving a palm into Hanako's cheeks. "What the hell?! Get off me, baka!"  _

_ "No! Not until you agree!" Hanako is hanging off of him this point, "Please, Osano! I won't ask you for anything else ever again!" Osano knew that was BS. Osano starts to turn red as some students were starting to stare at them and it wasn't helping that Hanako slid down a bit more, making their stance a bit...suggestive. "I'm begging you, Osano! I'll even get on my knees and--!"  _

_ "Hanako, shut up! Fine! Fine! I'll do it,now get the hell off me!"  _

Osano was lucky none of the student council members were patrolling or, even worse, Taro was nearby. Because they would surely take the scene out of context. Back to Amao, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and Osano was about to write his friend off as being paranoid (and a stalker). In the past, Osano had looked at the burnet and seen him take notes diligently and quickly. (Osano would bet 20 dollars Amao writes in cursive. Another 5 if he added little hearts over the i's like Hanako.) 

However, Amao seemed to be writing slower than usual and occasionally paused at moments that didn't time with the lesson. Maybe his mind was still on break or maybe something was distracting him… 

"Najimi," Mido was walking down the isles and bonked Osano on the head with the book, "yes Odayaka is an attractive young man, but please stare at him another time."

There was sprinkles of giggles among the class and Osano gapes like a fish at the tease. He looked over at Amao who gave a small smile and a wave despite the small blush on his cheeks. Osano was red enough to put his hair to shame and furiously takes notes for the rest of the class. 

He really hated this class and he was going to kill Hanako. 

~~♡~~ 

"Weather update, Osano~?!" Hanako plots himself next to Osano, who didn't even spare a glance. "My reputation is ruined because of you, baka." Osano dryly responds as he eats his bento. "And it was in Rana's class. Rana's class! I'm never going to be able to pick that up."

"Osanooo," Hanako whines, "What did you see?" 

"Nothing much, okay? He was writing slower than usual and didn't seem to be paying attention in class, like his mind was somewhere else." Hanako sighs and looks at the sky, he already knew something was on Amao's mind. "If you were expecting more, maybe you should stalk your boy crush on your own." 

Hanako's head snaps back, "It's not a boy crush! I'm just...worried about his well being." Hanako admits, "I think something's wrong." 

"Then how about you ask him instead of stalking him, baka." 

"I will and I'm not stalking him! I'm observing!" 

~~♡~~

"It's now 4:25 pm, five minutes until club activities officially end. Odayaka-senpai is still in the kitchen despite letting the other members off early." Hanako whispers as he crouched to the floor, slowly peeking into the cooking club and watched as Amao moved around the kitchen. It was hard to see anything from this angle and the counter didn't help at all. "Odayaka-senpai, shows no signs of cleaning up or--" 

"Baka, are you still stalking him?" 

Hanako yelps and quickly turns around to cover Osano's mouth, "Shhhh…" Hanko shushes as he slowly brings Osano down to the floor. "...you're going to blow my cover." Osano blinks before slapping the hand away, "Get the hell off of me. Why are still stalking him, baka?!" 

"It's not stalking! I'm observ--" 

"You're 'observing' him. Yeah, that's the bullshit stalkers say. And seeing what you've been doing all day, I'm starting to believe that you're becoming one."

Hanako gasps at the accusation, "I'm not a stalker--" Someone clearing their throat makes them go stiff as scarecrows and slowly turn to face their spotter. "It looks like I have two admirers." 

~~♡~~

Osano and Hanako sit in silence at the kitchen counter in awkward silence, waiting for the other to break it. Also, no one wanted to be the one to break Amao out his gentle humming away and dish washing. As soon as Hanako reached for the plate of freshly baked cookies and ate one, Osano broke the silence. "I just want to make one thing clear, Hanako was stalking you." 

Hanako chokes and looked at the orange haired boy with a look of betrayal. This was his plan all along, waiting for Hanako to stuff his face with cookies, because he knew Hanako couldn't resist sweets for long, so he wouldn't have the room to defend his case. 

"Osano, how can you throw me under the bus like that?!" Osano simply shoves a cookie into his mouth at Hanako's whining. Hanako looks at Amao, who had long stopped in his task and looked at the pair. "I wasn't stalking you! I was just observing you." 

"Observing me?" Amao blinks before chuckling and going back to his cleaning, "I don't know why. I personally don't find myself that interesting so I'm sorry if I bored you to death with my mundane tasks." Hanako was confused at the brunet. How can he still be so nice when-- 

"Somethings wrong with you…" He simply states. Amao froze and Osano hits Hanako's leg. "Ow! What was that for, Osano?!" 

"Baka! What do you think?! You don't just say something like that to someone. You probably offended him." 

Hanako looks at the frozen Amao and sees the kicked puppy look, making the boy immediately start to apologize. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way. I meant something's wrong with you emotionally like…" Hanako speaks with caution at this point, "...I know you're sad about something and it's been on your mind all day."

"Huh? Oh!" Amao had subconsciously zoned out at some point. That happens when anyone figured out something Amao was trying to hide. "You don't have to apologize because you would be right...something sad has been on my mind. You see…it's my mom." Amao wiped his hands dry on his apron and sits down across from them, "She's been, um, very sick recently and it's the reason why I was out of school. I was helping my dad take care of her." 

Amao reaches under his hair to untie the mint bandana and takes it off. "My mom getting sick is nothing new. She's gotten sick in the past, but they usually broke in a couple days. This time though it was more serious. Days went by and she wasn't getting better but getting...worse." 

"Odayaka-senpai, you don't have to finish--" 

"No, no, I can finish." Amao deeply inhales and ties the scarf back on. He had to talk about this with someone. "My mom, even in her sickness, is still worried about my wellbeing. A bit ironic, isn't it? She's the one with a high fever and cold sweat, yet she asks me it I ate breakfast still. She convinced me to come back to school so my grades would slip and to continue doing what I love, which is this place." Amao gestures to the kitchen, "I think she just wanted me out of the house so I would stop worrying about her but…" Amao gets really quiet and looks at his folded hands, "...I'm still worried sick about her." 

There was an awkward silence again, as Osano and Hanako didn't know how to properly respond. Both could empathize with him, but finding the right to show that was hard. The wrong set of words could set Amao into the waterworks and Osano and Hanako REALLY wouldn't know what to say. 

Until Osano remembered something that he does when he's upset. "Odayaka--" 

"Osano, please," Amao reached across the table and Osano's had his hands gently held and caressed for the second time. "Call me Amao." 

"Okay Amao…um..." Osano looks between the hands holding his own and Amao's, completely blanking out on what he was going to ask. "...do you like food?" 

~~♡~~

"Wow, this place is really pretty with the yellows and pinks." Amao compliments as he looked around the cafe, tinted a mellow orange from the sunset outside. "A bit...too pink." 

"Odayaka-senpai," Hanako thanks the waitress and slides the iced tea to Amao and the plate a mint colored macarons in the middle. "you cook in an overly pink kitchen every day, and this is too much~?" 

Amao opens and closes his mouth, he expected Osano to say something like that, not Hanako. Speaking of Osano, he looks over at the orange haired boy who looks away and eats a macaron and sips his milkshake. That was none of Osano's business. 

"Hanako," Amao decides to change the subject, "how did you know?" 

"How did I know you cook in a pink kitchen?" Hanako laughs, "Well, it's not that secretive--" 

"No, no," Amao laughs at his mistake. Maybe he should have been a bit more specific. "I mean, how did you know something was bothering me?" 

Hanako makes an 'o' face. Now that obvious question made sense. "Your smile." 

Amao and Osano looked at each other before back at Hanako, how can you tell someone is upset by their smile? "I've seen you give a kind smile to everyone every single day and it's always more genuine than the last everytime. Although today, your smile looked more forced, still nice and kind, but put up as a mask... like you were trying to hide something. I should know because I've done that a few times." 

Amao zoned out a bit. Amao showed other emotions and that was good, but he tried to not show the ones that projected himself out the norm. Like disgust, anger--except for that one time--and, of course, sadness. When he was sad or upset, those were the times he put on a smile to hide his true emotions. Only a few people could see through that. It's a bit of a coincidence that the other person to see through Amao's pained smile at school was Hanako's older brother, Taro. 

Maybe it runs through their family. 

"--Osano has done it a few times too, but instead of smiling he acts more aggressive to people to the point he might actually fight them." 

"Baka, no I don't." 

"Yes you do. I seen you throw a punch at someone and he ended with a broken nose." Hanako thinks back and squinted a bit, trying to figure out if Osano was depressed and didn't want to be bothered or was just pissed off as usual. 

"Hana had it coming for a while." 

Amao does a small double take. He heard of that incident and they never stated anyone's name, but Osano was the one who punched Hana? Why did Amao seem so surprised? This was one of the phone addicts and Osano Najimi they were talking about. "Amao, can you--" Osano slides over a napkin and pen, "--write out your signature?" 

"Of course," Amao signs out his name and slides it back over, "but why?" 

"I'm just curious about your handwriting." Osano looks over the name and chuckles, "Well screw me sideways, you add slanted dashes instead of girly hearts like Hanako." 

"They're not girly!" 


	4. Bitter Honeysuckles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You would think two out of the top three nicest people in school would get along, right?

"Osanoooo…" Hanako whines for the fifth time and gently leans into his friend's back, who was trying to ignore him and continue eating his lunch. Which was easier said than done as Osano's eye started to twitch. "...do you have anything sweet?" 

"Baka, like I told you the last four times, I don't have anything sweet...so get off my back--!" Osano harshly pushes Hanako off his back, "--Literally and figuratively!" 

The push was hard enough to not only get the underclassman off his back, but also send him rolling down the green hill like an oak log. The hill wasn't too grand and would honestly be written off as a speed bump compared to Mount Everest, but once Hanako finally stopped at the bottom he still whined out. "Osanooo! You're so mean! You didn't have to push! What if I got hurt?!" 

Osano scoffs, "Oh shut up! You can barely get a scraped knee on this hill! You're being overdramatic!" 

"You still didn't have to push me!" Hanako curls up and rolls over onto his side, "I just asked for something sweet!" 

Osano yells out and starts digging into his bag. He was getting real sick of Hanako's whining about sweets. Of course, Osano brought something sweet with him (because he had a sweet tooth as well) and even brought extra with him today, but he ate them earlier in the day. Specifically Mido's class. He skipped out on breakfast today and now he was paying the price for eating his snacks early by listening to Hanako's whines. 

There was only one person who could fix. One person who could save him from this torture. Osano fishes his phone out and calls the desired contact of his sweet savior. 

_ "Hello?" _The voice answer in a slight sing-song tone. 

"Amao, do--?" 

_ "Oh, Osano, it's you!" Amao was genuinely surprised Osano actually called him. He gave Osano his number, but Hanako said Osano had trouble communicating with his peers. "I was just about to head down to you two--" _

"Great. Perfect timing. Listen, we're at the back of the school--" 

_ Amao reels back a bit,"Back of the school, but why? There's no one worthwhile back there." _

"That's doesn't matter. Amao, listen,..." Osano wants to make sure Amao got the message loud and clear. If he didn't listen, they would be stuck with a whining Hanako for the rest of the day. And no one wanted that. "Do you have anything sweet?" 

_ There's a warm laugh from the other line, "Osano, I'm the president of the baking club, when do I not have something sweet?" _

~~♡~~

While Osano was trying to find a way to shut the crying gremil up, said crying gremil had gotten up and decided to 'walk' and 'explore' the colorful school garden. Hanako wasn't 'walking' as he was crouching and crawling. And he wasn't 'exploring' as it looked like he was snooping and was doing stunts straight from a spy movie. Hiding behind bushes to not be spotted by club members, quickly rolling pass their backs when they walked pass. 

Why was Hanako acting like he's in Mission Impossible and even humming the famous tune? But honestly, who truly knows how the mind of Hanako Yamada works? 

The ravenette stops in front of bush full of white petaled flowers with yellow stems in the middle. Digging through his cobwebbed mind and goldfish memory, Hanako recognized these flowers as Honeysuckles and remembers only two things about them; They're not poisonous. In fact, they're very much edible. And their nectar is sweet if you take from the stems. That was very unfortunate for the innocent Honeysuckles… 

Hanako quickly looks around to make sure no one was around before he started plucking the Honeysuckles and sucking the nectar from them. One would compare this scene to a chipmunk gathering food for the winter by stuffing their cheeks full of nuts. 

"You know," Hanako freezes at the voice behind him. "Most people ask if the flowers are poisonous or even safe to touch, but you just went straight into eating them." There wasn't any anger or irritation in Uekiyo's voice, just amusement. But that didn't stop Hanako from acting like a child with his hand in the cookie jar, "En-Engeika-senpai! I was...um!" Hanako hides the flowers behind his back, "...I was definitely not eating your flowers! Only an idiot would do that!" 

_ 'You are an idiot!' _Hanako cringes at hearing Osano's voice now and at the poor attempt of a lie, but Uekiyo, again, didn't seem upset. He actually laughs and waves off the excuse, "It's quite alright, Hanako. I'm glad someone's enjoying and getting rid of them." 

Hearing Uekiyo's laugh and seeing his smile, plus his personality, he reminded Hanako very much of Amao. To the point Hanako formulated a theory that Uekiyo was just Amao from some alternate universe. "Although, Hanako," the gardner reaches behind Hanako and plucks one of the flowers, "It's better to pluck right where the bud starts or else you'll lose most of the nectar." Uekiyo does just that and takes out the stem, revealing the slightly bigger beads of nectar. "See?"

Hanako nods, "That's so cool, Engeika-senpai~! How do you kno-mm!" The ravenette is silenced at the stem being placed between his lips and the sweet taste invading his mouth again. He laughs when he thinks over the question he was about to ask, "Right. You're a huge green thumb, Engeika-senpai. You have to know these things~."

~~♡~~ 

"Maybe you should set down some cookies for him." 

"Osano, Hanako is not a dog who just comes at the drop of treats." Besides, that would be a waste of good cookies. "He's a very smart and creative guy." 

Osano 'tchs', "I don't know about that 'very smart' part, but creative? Truly." He looks behind another hedge to the garden. "And trust me, Amao. If you have anything sweet and just give it to him or leave it out, Hanako becomes anyone's bit--" .

"There he is!" Amao cuts Osano off, both to stop him from finishing that statement and spotting Hanako. "And he's with…" The baker's tone gets low, "...Engeika." 

"Hanako!" The ravenette jumps and looks at the pair walking over, "Didn't you hear me calling you the first few times?! Why did you walk off?!" 

"I'm sorry, Osano! You just didn't have anything sweet and I went looking around after you kicked me down a hill and started talking on the phone! Then I found the Honeysuckles and-and then Engeika-senpai found me--!" 

"Of course he found you, baka! You're in his garden causing trouble!" 

"Oh, don't worry. He wasn't causing any trouble or intruding in any way. I actually don't mind this--" Uekiyo cups and gently squished Hanako's flushed cheeks, "--adorable bud visiting my garden at all~." 

"Can you not squish his cheeks," Amao cuts in, "He's not a baby." 

"Odayaka," Uekiyo drops Hanako's face, but the smile on his lips never flattens. "So glad to see you're well~." 

"And seeing that beautiful flower is ever bloom and not wilted, I'm glad to see you're well too, Engeika~." Osano did a small double take at that remark. '_ Did...Did Amao just throw shade?' _He mentally asked. 

"How's your baking going? No one's gotten food poisoning yet~?" '_ Oh...Oh, both sides are throwing shade.' _Osano looks around everywhere that wasn't the growing tension between the two. 

"It's better. And we haven't had a poison ivy epidemic like last month~?" 

"Oh no, my club and I work efficiently to make sure things like that don't happen again. Unlike your club~." 

"Well! I think it's time we go! Thank you, Engeika-senpai!" Hanako could feel the tension reaching its boiling point and walks over to his friends, specifically grabbing Amao's arm. "We'll come bac--" Hanako tries to pull the baker along, but found himself pulled back as Amao had firmly planted himself into the ground. Osano looks at the sky, Did it suddenly get darker? When did that happen?

Somehow, someway, the smile does drop from Amao's face, but his tone sure did._ "And what's that supposed to mean, Engeika~?" _

"_ I mean," _ Uekiyo chuckles _ , "It took three cases of food poisoning before you club decided to formally double check the expiration dates on products~. You would think after the first time it would click~. _"

_ "And you would think after the first bud sprouts, you would move faster in removing a harmful plant from your garden." _ Amao looks at the shrubs, _ "Like Honeysuckles? Even though they're a sweet treat, they're very harmful to a garden. They're an invasive--" _

_ "An invasive species." _ The gardner bordely finishes, _ " _You're telling me nothing new, Odayaka." 

"I sure hope I'm not." Amao sucks his teeth, "Like I told you last time, Engeika. Don't tell me how to run MY club and I won't tell you how to run YOURS. Capiche? Good." And with the final say and the turn of his heels, Amao walks off and leaves Osano and Hanako both asking the same question. 

What the hell did they just witness? 

  
  


~~♡~~

"Ahhhh!" Amao covers his face with his palms in embarrassment, "I'm sorry you two had to had to see that. It was very immature." 

"Hey don't worry about it," Osano looks at Hanako who was stuffing his face like a squirrel, "I'm used to immature." 

"Hey!" 

"Shut up. But Amao, what was that back there?" Osano questions. Amao shakes his head and moves his hands away, sighing and laughing a bit. "No,no, I can't." 

"Aw come on," Hanako whines, "It can't be that bad." 

Amao thinks it over since he's never really told anyone this, weighing the pros and cons before falling in. "Okay...believe it or not, Uekiyo and I go way back. As in...elementary grade school back. And as much as I can remember, we've always had the same classes or interacted with each other in someway and if saw how…" Amao gestures his hands as if he was making a ball, "...intertwined and abundant our interactions were, I faithfully believe in another reality, Uekiyo and I were meant to be best friends." 

"Why aren't you best friends now?" Osano and Hanako may not be in any clubs, but they pay attention to how other clubs react with one another. And before this whole event, the gardening club and the cooking club had a...edgy relationship. They still spoke to each other politely, but they always keep at 20 feet distance. That was always weird, but seeing how their club leaders were to each other, it made sense. Now, Amao and Uekiyo weren't believers of 'sins of the father' or 'I don't like them, so you can't like them'...but they were believers in 'You may like them, but if I'm not going within a 100 meters of them.' 

There has to be a deep reason as to why Amao and Uekiyo, the two sweetest people in the school, don't like each other. There has to be--

"It becomes more childish as time goes by, but…when we were in the 1st, no, 2nd grade, Uekiyo purposely pushed me into a large puddle of mud." 

Hanako makes a kicked puppy face, "Oh no!" Osano had an expression that screamed "...Are you fucking serious?"

"But that's not all and I'm not completely innocent. In retaliation, I set up a bucket of slime in his cubby so when he went for his coat, it fell on him." 

"Amao, that's horrible!" 

"I know, but he started the war!" 

"...are you fucking serious?" 

"And we kept going back and forth with these pranks for years. The poison ivy, the chili peppers, the time he moved my desk to the school roof and the time I pushed his bed out into the lake during a school camping trip." 

Osano was having a mental breakdown hearing this. "God, you and Uekiyo have to be the nicest people I've ever meet, but also the most childish...and most fucking sadistic madmen." He looks for Amao for answers, "How and why?!" 


	5. Purple Sundaes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Osano thinks Hanako needs to stop picking up strays, especially ones that have egos so big they project their own spotlight.

The only annoying thing Osano should hear at--a hand comes out from the covers and retrieves the phone--5:45 in the morning is his alarm clocks that he set to go off every five minutes.

"Soooo I cancel out the x's, leaving only the y's and…" 

"And the total values. You're solving for y then you're going to go back and substitute for x." 

Not Hanako's dumbass unable to comprehend basic Algebra. 

Osano lets out a sigh and mimics a turtle by sticking his head out from the covers. Once his blurry eyes adjusted, he could see Amao and Hanako sitting at this desk and working on the underclassman's homework, that he probably neglected to do the night before. "Done!" Hanako claims and slides the paper over. 

Amao looks it over and hums a little, "You got it, Hanako, but…where did the five come from?" 

"Oh I just added it to round off the number. I don't like uneven numbers." 

Amao chuckles and simply erased the five Hanako had summoned up and put the correct number in place before handing the pencil back for Hanako to move onto the next problem. He looks around the room, "Hanako, are you sure it's okay for us to be here while Osano is asle--Oh!" His sight falls on the pair of eyes, glaring daggers at him. "Good morning, Osano--" 

"Why the fuck are you two in my room this early?" Osano spits out, annoyance heavy in his voice. 

"Oh don't be that way, Osano~!" Hanako spins around in the swivel seat, "I asked Amao to help me with my homework. I decided to finally try and actually do my homework without copying yours~!" 

"Hanako, that attitude is going to last a full--No. Not even a full day--HALF a day before you give up or forget your homework and decide to copy Amao's homework or my homework." Osano groans and throws the covers off to get out of bed. He was, somewhat, wide awake now and saw no point in trying to go back to sleep. He dragged his tired body out of bed and muttered the whole way to the bathroom. 

"Coming over my house early in the fucking morning to use my fucking desk. Why doesn't Hanako take Amao to HIS house and use HIS own work desk…" Even if Osano's curses of displeasure were meant to be quiet and unheard to everyone else, whether he intended it or not, Amao and Hanako could hear him crystal clear. "A desk that's probably covered in...cobwebs and girly glittered stationary." 

Hanako nervously laughs as this wasn't what he had in mind for Amao's first show of early morning Osano. "He's no usually like this Amao. He's very chirpy and pleasant on other days." 

"Um…" Amao jumps a bit at the sound of the bathroom door slamming, probably threatening the poor thing off its hinges. "...no offense, Hanako, but I think Osano is not a morning person at all. Especially when someone else wakes him up." 

"Whaaat? Of course he is~! Osano loves when I wake him up. Don't you Osano?!" 

"Fuck off Hanako!" 

"See? He loves it." 

~~♡~~

"So Hanako dragged you to my house at the crack of dawn...just so you can help him with his homework that he neglected to do?" Osano rubs an eye in irritation, "You know you have every right to tell him no." 

"I didn't know you cared about my time being taken away from something else, Osano?" Amao lightly teases and makes Osano flush in the cheeks. "I-I don't care about that, Baka! I just want you to know you don't have to--Ugh nevermind." Osano turns away with his chin stuffed into a palm. 

"I'm just teasing you, Osano." He was so easily flustered by the slightest things. "Besides, I don't mind helping Hanako with his homework. I actually enjoy it. Besides, I have something for you and wanted to give it to you back at your house." Amao starts digging into his bag and Osano turns around just in time to receive a bento box wrapped in bright cloth. "Hanako mentioned how you rarely eat in the morning, so I made you breakfast~" 

Osano didn't immediately respond. He looked blankly at the bento box, then Hanako, who was happily stuffing his face with his breakfast from Amao, before looking at sweetly smiling Amao. "...Are you a housewife, Amao?" 

Amao's cheeks turn pink at the comment,"What? N-no!" 

"Are you sure?! Because this is something a housewife does for their husband!" Osano pauses and he immediately turns red at realizing what his statement could imply. "N-Not that I think of myself as your husband! B-baka! Why did you do this, idiot?!" 

"Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day and are the core nutrients to start the day!" Amao argues, just defaulting into PSA mode, "It's important to have those nutrients. And what kind of a cook and friend would I be if I let you turn into a skeleton?" 

Osano gives the baker a deadpan look and simply responds with,"...Housewife. But I'm still going to eat this." 

"Oswano!" Hanako calls with his mouth full of food. He chews and swallows before speaking again, "There's nothing house wifey--" "That's not a real word." "--house wifey about Amao making you breakfast~!." 

Amao smiles and nods, "Thank you, Hanako." He was glad someone wasn't deaf and blind to his kind gesture. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with making food for the people in your threesome~!" 

Hanako could hear a pin drop at how quiet their conversation got. He looks at his friends to see Amao giving a nervous smile and Osano glaring daggers at him. "What? We're a threesom--" 

"Hanako! Sweetheart, that's not...appropriate. We're close, but not...that close." 

"We're not?" Hanako's face almost rivaled a kicked puppy's. He thought they were pretty close and give each other benefits, like the food.  _ 'Is there more steps involved in giving benefits?' _

Seeing Hanako's face, Amao felt like he really did kick a puppy. Osano, on the other hand, didn't care. "Ow! Osano, what was that for?!" Hanako whines as he rubs the back of his head where he was struck. 

"Baka! You know why! Hanako, you could've used any other words. You could've called us a trio, a triad, trey, a troika, a trine, hell even the three musketeers, but a threesome?" 

_ 'How would that even work? Hanako is a destined bottom and-And I need to stop thinking into this.'  _ Osano's mind starts to wonder and he quickly brings himself back to sense and reality. "Hanako, you really need to cut down on the henta--" 

The high pitched squealing and screeching from the female students cuts Osano off and honestly makes him cover one of his ears. "Why the hell are they screaming this early? It's not even 9." 

Hanako looks and sees the small crowd forming around someone and squints at being unable to determine if the light shining down in the middle was the sun or...a spotlight? "Who do you think they're so excited to see?" 

"It's probably Kizano." It had to be him. The Drama Club leader was the only person in the whole school that dragged a spotlight with him wherever he went. 

"He came back? I thought he like dropped out or something." 

"Osano, he's only been gone for three weeks." 

"It's Kizano fucking Sunobu," Osano scoffs,"This is the guy that wears a literal cape, carries and throws rose petals around like pixie dust, and talks like the Dark Ages didn't end...who knows how many fucking hundred years ago." Osano couldn't even write Kizano as a simple Drama King. A Drama Overlord would be appropriate because Kizano is just that extra. When someone pointed out a barely noticeable stain on the back of his cape, no saw Kizano for three days. 

Osano quickly gets his stuff together, telling Amao he'll see him in Rana and Hanako at lunch once he saw Kizano and his flock of admirers making their way over. They had a habit of blocking the entire hallway in the middle and showed no interest in moving to the sides. A crowd on the sidelines? It annoys Osano, but he can make his way pass them. A crowd  **dead** center in the hallway? It made Osano want to commit 15 counts of first degree murder. 

In short, if Osano didn't leave now and let them get in front of him, he was going to be late for homeroom. What Osano didn't know was that he was still going to be late for homeroom and he it wasn't going to be from the crowd. Kizano was so caught up in own ego and relaying something to his adoring admirers that he bumped right into Osano. 

The drama student's face twisted and he reeled back, almost disgusted that Osano touched him before standing tall again. "Move out the way, peasant!" 

"How about YOU move out the way?" Osano knew he wasn't going to get an apology. Hell, Kizano wouldn't even admit he was the one that bumped into Osano. "You have two legs that fucking work. Walk around me." 

"Walk around you? Bend to the will of a peasant like you?" Kizano lets out an arrogant laugh, "You are seriously mad." 

"Mad?! Oh I'll show you mad--!" 

And that launched an argument for the ages. And Amao and Hanako simply watched the verbal dispute between two unstoppable forces, deciding it's best, for their own safety, to not get involved unless things get physical. 

"It's like watching Animal Planet between nature's natural born enemies." Hanako comments, "It's not everyday you see a tsundere and a himedere fight. I'm surprised Osano hasn't hit anyone yet. Usually someone is on the floor with a bleeding nose by now." Man, those were the days of their childhood...and now. "That's makes me wonder. Amao, how do you think Kizano would react if he found himself in a fight? Do you think he secretly knows how to fight or is a complete noodle like me? Would he go down normally, run away, or like...dance away?" Hanako says the last part as a joke. 

"Kizano is not much of a dancer. Don't you remember--Wait. You weren't here last year when Kizano sprained his ankle trying to do  _ West Side Story _ ." Amao laughs a little, "And wouldn't Kizano be a oujidere instead of a himedere?" 

Hanako runs through his mental Dere dictionary and nods, "You're right. He is a oujidere~! But…" The underclassman looks at Amao with slight scrutiny, "...I thought you said you didn't like anime? How would you know what a oujidere, himedere, or even a tsundere is? Unless...you watch anime." 

"...Perhaps." Amao simply answers and turns back to the verbal dispute at hand. That was an okay answer for Hanako. He already knew his friend was a weeb in sheep's clothing. When Hanako looked at Kizano and Osano, neither one had still made efforts to move out the other's way in the span of 3 minutes. 

Thinking back to Amao's comment on how Kizano wasn't a dancer and how Hanako wasn't here to see Kizano’s play, it made Hanako realize that he has yet to see ANY of Kizano's performances. The boy has heard very good reviews about them and told himself "Hanako, you have to see one of Kizano's performances before he graduates." (It's even on his High school bucket list) but he always found himself busy with homework or, because of his goldfish memory, he forgot the premiere dates. 

Despite everyone's opinion on Kizano's personality and actions, love him or hate him, no would could deny that Kizano Sunobu had a natural born talent for acting. Speaking of loving or hating him, Hanako couldn't even say he disliked Kizano. He's seen him around--God who hasn't seen Kizano strut through the hallways?--and he's gotten a few "Step aside peasant!" when he brushed his shoulder or cape, but Hanako doesn't determine his opinion on someone from those type of encounters. 

He goes by first impression. Formal first impression that involves full conversations, then Hanako decides if he likes them or not. Hanako has done that with almost everyone here and Kizano Sunobu was now on his list. "Amao, I'm going to talk to him." 

"Who?" 

"Sunobu-senpai of course~!" 

~~♡~~

"He's an idiot!" 

"Osano--" 

"No! He's a complete dumbass at this point!" 

"Osano, lower your voice, please. Or else you're going to get Rana-sensai's attention." Amao whispers, reaching over and squeezing Osana's hand. The orange-haired boy freezes looking between Amao and the warm hand clasping his own. Osano, strangely, finds himself calmed and pulls their hands apart, but his cheeks were tinted now. Sadly, it didn’t make him drop the subject at hand. "Ha-Hanako is still a dumbass. He actually thinks he's going to get a genuine conversation from Sunobu? Kizano Sunobu?" He scoffs, "He has a better chance at getting a genuine conversation from Shidesu." 

Amao sighs and goes back to his classwork, slightly pursing his lips. "You know, I think he's actually a nice and considerate." 

"Sunobu or Shidesu?"

"Kizano, Sweetie." 

Osano scoffs at the thought, then finds himself chuckling a bit until he hand to cover his mouth to keep himself from bursting out laughing in the middle of class like a maniac. "Haha! You're really funny, Amao." 

The brunet frowns a bit and leans back in his chair, "I'm serious, Osano. I've seen a nicer side of him." Amao thinks fondly back on the memory, "It was the day after one of his shows and I was in the kitchen…" 

_ Amao was busy whisking away at the brownie batter, wanting to get this stuff in the oven and done before the day ends, when the sliding doors to the Cooking Club was dramatically opened with a loud bang. Loud enough to take Amao by surprise and make him flinch, "Baker boy!"  _

_ Amao looked up to greet the person that's none other than the Drama Club leader himself. He smiled, wiping his hands on his apron. "Hello Kizano, how are you?"  _

_ "Marvelous as always~!" Kizano confidently responded, flipping the drill of purple hair. "But for the next few minutes, it's not about me sadly. It's about you--" He points at Amao, "--Baker boy."  _

_ "Me?" Amao asked, unsure. This was a bit foreign to him, especially coming from Kizano. Kizano rolled his eyes at the second of 'duh'.  _

_ "Who else is here? Yes, you!" Kizano walked further into the club until he was in front of the brunet. "I come bearing a gift for you and your little clubhouse." He waved a hand to the overly pink room before settling it on the counter. "As you may know, I receive many, many, gifts congratulating me on my many excellent performances. Like the one yesterday."  _

_ "Yes and you did wonderful yesterday, Kizano."  _

_ "Oh I know, Darling." Kizano's response was heavy with pride, "At least you recognize true talent when you see it." Kizano leaned against the kitchen counter. Amao goes to protest that decision, but finds himself stunned silent at the next action. Kizano had reached out and brush his thumb against Amao's cheek, pulling it back to see it was flour. "Baking. Such a messy job." _

_ Amao shook his head and came back to reality. "U-Um, Kizano. Back to the gifts…"  _

_ "Right, right the gift." Kizano wiped his thumb on Amao's apron. Like hell he was going to do that on his own uniform. "Most, almost all of my gifts, are flowers. Flowers like all living things eventually wither and die, but every living thing leaves some form of a legacy behind." This was one of the rare times Amao has heard Kizano talk at regular volume. He was usually boisterous and loud, but confident and in a tone that said 'I am here! Notice me!'.  _

_ But this was calmer and felt like an actual conversation. There was still the tone of confidence and arrogance--that's not going anywhere--and the showing of his love for literature, but it felt like someone reciting a poem in a lecture. Not a play on stage.  _

_ "So, even though a legacy on my vanity is a good one, I know they deserve better." Kizano pushed himself off the counter and it would've been the perfect moment for Amao to tell him about the flour streaks on his red cape, but he is, once again, speechless when Kizano goes out to the hallway and wheels in a small wagon with two large bouquets of roses. "Roses are edible, are they not? So consider this a gift in your baking, Baker boy."  _

_ "I, um...I don't know what to say, Kizano." Amao breathes and laughed a little, honestly feeling flattered. "Thank you. I could give you a hug--"  _

_ "--No!" Kizano's hand shot up to quickly reject the offer, "I don't need your peasant baker germs on me."  _

_ "Kizano, don't you usually get more flowers than this?" After every one of his performances, Kizano had enough flowers to open a flower shop five times over.  _

_ "I did, but I gave most of them to my court since they deserve it. Those two bouquets are what's left of my congratulating success. Now--!" Kizano straighten up and move his red cape behind him, "--I will take my leave, Baker boy."  _

_ "One more question!" Amao stops hims as Kizano slid the door open, "Do you keep any of your flowers for yourself?"  _

_ "I do sometimes, but I always keep one thing that I consider worthy." Kizano reached for something in his pocket and took out a small bundle of cards. "I love receiving flowers, but it's the message on the cards that count."  _

Osano gives Amao a blank stare at the end of the story, "...so your club leader equal boyfriend gives you some flowers to bake with, wipes some flour off your cheek--" Osano gives Amao a small look, "--gives flowers to his club members, keep the messages from the bouquets for sentimental reasons aanndd suddenly he's the asshole with a heart of gold?" 

He erases and rewrites the sentence on his paper, "Yeah, Amao that whole memory for you is not going to make him look any less 'Haha! Bow down to me peasants! Bask in my insufferable glory! Haha!" Osano does an almost perfect impression of Kizano it was scary. From the mannerisms, even if they're exaggerated, and the voice. Amao seeing the mocking of Kizano from Osano, he couldn't help but compare the two and a small humorous smile comes up at a revelation. 

"You know, you and Kizano are very much alike." Amao had to question if he was suicidal because that sentence was an instant death wish. Osano pauses in his writing and slowly looked up at Amao, glaring daggers at him. Oh if looks could kill. "Amao, you're lucky my hands don't move that fast. How DARE you--?!" 

"What?" Amao chuckles at his friend's now flustered expression, "You two are very similar." 

"No. We're. Not." Osano firmly states for the record from here on out. He leans across the table, "I'm going to do a you on you." 

"A you on what? Osano, that doesn't make SENSE-!" Amao is grabbed by his collar and is pulled in close by Osano. "I want you to know something, Amao, but maybe you already know this. Kizano and I, we don't have sunshine personalities like you and Hanako. Our personalities don't make people like us or want to be friends. I'll admit that much for me and Kizano being alike, but you know what sets him and me drastically apart? I KNOW some or even more people don't like me. I KNOW some people hate my guts, and frankly I could care less, but Kizano?" Osano shakes his head, "Kizano lives in this delusion that everyone likes, no, LOVES and adores him 24/7. I'm not a narcissist, but he's a narcissist to the fucking T, like Narcissus reincarnated." 

Someone clearing their throat makes both boys look up to see Mido standing in front of their table with a slight smirk on his face. "Najimi, like I said before, I know Odayaka is an attractive young man, but try to keep your hands to yourself and wait until...after school hours~." 

Osano turns red enough to put his hair to shame and lets go of Amao, making them both sit back in their chairs normally and Mido walks away. "Now that you mention it, Osano. He did do _ Narcissus _ very well when they did that small production on greek myths." 

“See? I What I’m talking about.”

~~♡~~

Hanako peaks into the auditorium and sees that it was only Kizano inside, which was strange, but a perfect opportunity to strike now. The morning with homeroom and the afternoon with lunch didn't give Hanako any window of opportunity to talk to Kizano or even find him. Which was pretty scary and unusual since Kizano loved to be seen and heard. 

Hanako shuffles inside, seeing no point in sneaking in since the auditorium was completely dark minus the exception of the stage lights, but he did try to keep his footsteps quiet. He was about halfway down the aisle when he fully stopped, caught up in awe at Kizano's reciting his part of a play that Hanako didn't recognize (Kizano would surely call him "uncultured swine" for not recognizing  _ Romeo and Juliet _ ) 

It was going beyond well and Hanako was enjoying it, hearing Kizano's voice shift flawlessly in tone and the actions that went along with it. Kizano suddenly stops and frowns, groaning as he stomped over to a table and started flipping through the script. "Where the hell is that Kokana?!" 

Hanako blinks at the immediate snap back to the Kizano he recognized. He didn't know his theater plays or his homework, but Hanako pretty sure that line wasn't in the play. Maybe he should make his great escape and try again when Kizano is a better mood. The black-haired boy turns slowly to leave and the first step he took landed on the loudest and creakiest floorboard in the whole auditorium. 

*creeeeeeeaaaakkkk* 

Kizano looks up and squirts to see the figure hiding in the dark. He knew immediately it wasn't Kokana or any of the club members. "You--!" Hanako stiffens up. So much for a quiet, great escape. "--Why are you spying on me, peasant?!" 

Hanako immediately turns around and starts apologizing, "I-I'm sorry, Sunobu-senpai! I didn't mean to spy on you! I just, um…" Hanako pauses, trying to find a reasonable excuse that didn't make it sound like he was a stalker. "...got caught up in your performance." He gives a small nervous smile to try and sell the deal. 

Kizano stares him down and didn't respond immediately, as if he was thinking over the excuse. "Well--" He flips the purple drill over his shoulder, "--atleast you recognize talent and know to stop and look at it's magnificence, Darling." 

Hanako lets out the breath he didn't know he was holding in. He honestly thought Kizano was going to smite or strike him down or something--"Get up here." 

Hanako spoke too soon. 

Nonetheless, the underclassman listened to his senior and made his way onto the stage and stood in front of Kiznao. In which, Hanako never realized how tall he was...or maybe he appears that way because Hanako is shaking in his shoes and is shrinking away. It didn't help that Kizano was just staring at him. Analyzing and judging him for every flaw that Hanako has to offer. 

"You're short," Kizano painfully states one of Hanako’s main insecurities , "Very short. Maybe even shorter than my babe cousins and they're ten." Hanako goes to look down, but his chin is caught in firm grasp and made to look up again. "And from far away and at first glance, you look like a girl." There a long period of silence between the two with Kizano continuing to stare him down before he lets go of Hanako's chin. "You're perfect~!" 

"Perfect? For what--?" An almost blind spotlight shines down on Kizano (and it was honestly hard to tell if the spotlight was an actual spotlight overhead or Kizano's personal) and Hanako simply blinks, wheezing. "...my eyes." 

"Listen closely and listen well...uh…" Kizano was going off a great and theatrical start, preaching to no audience before he realizes something very important. He gets quiet, "...what's your name?" 

"Hanako. Hanako Yamada." 

"Hanako Yamada, listen closely and listen well because I am about to bestow the greatest honor anyone could ever be given~! You...are going to be my partner. My practice partner." 

"What kind of practice partner?" 

Kizano blinks. "Acting, Darling. You saw me practicing by myself when I obviously need someone else. What else would I practice on you besides acting?" 

Hanako draws a bunch of possibilities, but none of them were logically or physically possible right now with the amount of time they have. Plus they were too out in the open and could be walked in on. "You're right, Sunobu-senpai." 

"I know I'm right, Darling~!" 

"But I've never acted in a play before or done any acting at all." Hanako follows closely after the purple-haired boy to the table, "Nii-san and Osano say I'm a terrible actor. I give away too many details, especially with secrets. I can't keep a secret to save my life. One time, Nii-san got Osano like three gifts and I accidentally told him. Nii-san wasn't mad, but Osano was mad for--" 

Kizano swiftly bonks Hanako on the head with the rolled up script, successfully stopping his rambling. "You're confusing a liar with the art of acting, true acting, Darling." He hands him the rolled script, "I know you're an amateur. Simply read from this script and you'll do fine, Darling." 

"Okay~!" Hanako opened to the first page with a spark of confidence, but that immediately depletes when he reads the first few lines.  _ 'What are these words? Why are there so many 'thous' and 'arts'? Why?'  _

"Hanako…" Hands cup Hanako’s face and makes his look up again to face a very serious Kizano, "...how are you on being touched?" 

"..." 

"..." 

"...What kind of touching?" 

"Nothing indelicate. Just simple and innocent gestures like hugging, holdings your forearms, maybe the small of your back--" 

"Ohhhh, you were referring to the good touch~!" Hanako exclaims. His family taught him this when he was younger and always gave him the talk at the start of every school year. Hanako later learned on his own that any touching involving deep intimacy, no matter the order they’re done in, instrument involved, or people involved, it all boiled down to one thing one:  _ consent. _

"Oh you have the mind of a small child, Darling." Who still used the words 'good touch-bad touch' like a grade schooler? Hanako Yamada apparently. Kizano decided not to dwell on it for too long. "Now! If you're ready, let us begin." 

~~♡~~ 

"I'm going to kill him." 

"No you won't. You love him too much to hurt him." 

"You wanna test that theory?" 

Osano was annoyed with Hanako. More annoyed than usual. It's the end of the day, Osano and Amao wanted to leave, but they couldn't leave without Hanako. They all relatively lived in the same neighborhood with the Yamadas living right next door to the Najimis, yet one would think they lived 200 miles apart with how dramatic Hanako acts when he has to go home. (“I don’t want to go home! Please let me stay over!” “Baka! You live right next door! Let go of my leg and go the hell home!”) 

It was a very convenient surprise when they found out Amao didn't live too far from their houses. Since Taro started walking with Ayano, it kinda threw off Hanako and Osano's non-existent balance when walking to and from school. Hanako practically begged Amao to walk with them to make their once walking trinity whole again. And Amao, the smart cookie he was, agreed after the initial and final begging session. 

And now they're trying to find Hanako, the boy who cried ' _ the sacred threesome of friendship must never be broken!' _ , who now looks like a hypocrite for backing up on his plan. They looked everywhere for him, even the storage room and under those large boxes and inside the music case. (“Osano, I don’t think he would hide in there.” “It’s Hanako. Anything is possible with him.”) Everywhere except for one place. The auditorium where the Drama club practices. 

"I swear, If we get to that overly pink and sickening cafe and they run out of that cheesecake because of Hanako, I'm killing him." Osano declares as they near the auditorium. "And you can't and won't stop me, Amao." 

"You know, I can just make it for you. The cheesecake I mean." Amao offers and he immediately wanted to take it back as he swore he could hear the wind whispering  _ housewife  _ in his ear. 

"Baka, that's why we're going to the cafe. So you or I don't have to make it. Sometimes I want to eat food without all the work attached to it." They arrive at the auditorium and was about to walk in when they hear something that makes both of them pause. 

"I must say, Hanako, you are very flexible in the spine." 

"Thank you, Sunobu-senpai~! And I think you're very, u-um..." There was a strain of pain in Hanako's voice "...dominating from this angle." 

"What the hell?" Osano throws all manners and a sensible mind out the window at that moment, kicking the doors to the auditorium open like the opens. "Osano!" Amao cries at his friend's behavior, "That wasn't necess--oh my." 

Osano's reckless action was set aside and the scene in front of them took first place. Hanako was being dipped back by Kizano, whose hand was dangerously low on the small of his back and he was leaning in so close that it was beyond the point of 'we're just acting'. In short, it looked like Kizano was trying to go into the 'second act' with Hanako, but got caught in the act instead. And their startled faces, along with Hanako's tinted cheeks, didn't help the onlookers think otherwise. 

"What the hell are you doing to him, Sunobu?!" Osano accuses. "You know he's underage!" 

"H-Hey, Osano and Amao," Hanako tries to step in and reason, "It's not what it--" 

"How--" 

"Ow!" 

"--DARE you allege me of such a thing, peasant?!" Kizano had completely dropped Hanako to the floor without any second thought to his health as soon as the accusation was made. Hanako whines on the hardwood floor of the stage and he swore he heard something crack, "Guys…" 

"I call it like I see it! And who the hell are you calling a peasant, Baka?!" Osano practically tosses his bag to Amao before marching towards the stage, "We'll see who's the peasant once I come up there and kick your high and mighty ass!" 

"Only in your lucid dreams can you beat me in a fight!" 

"Guys, please help…" Hanako pathetically cries for help again. Okay, so maybe something didn't break or crack, but something definitely hurts. 

"Osano, calm down!" The brunet quickly catches up to his hot headed friend and catches him firmly by the arm to stop him from committing first degree assault. "Everyone calm down! There's no need for violence!" 

"Amao--" 

"Hanako, Cupcake, not now. I'm trying to stop two unstoppable forces from killing each other." 

"I-I know and I love you for that because I could ne-never do that but…" Hanako groans and honestly wanted to cry like a baby at the moment. "...I think something's wrong with my back...and I'm seeing stars." 

~~♡~~

"Well that was a fun trip for the ages~!" Hanako says cheerfully, despite having a small ice pack to his head and bruising his back a bit. "Now that we're here at Hello Kitty haven, we should order something~!" 

"Hanako, we ordered a few minutes ago." Osano reminds him. 

"Eh? We did?" 

"Yes," Osano responds. Maybe that small bump to the head did more damage to Hanako's already forgetful mind than expected. "You ordered us purple sundaes...because they ran out of cheesecake." Osano was going to choke Hanako when he got better. 

"We're lucky Nurse Kina was still in the school." Amao couldn't imagine how they would explain how Hanako got hurt to a professional doctor in a hospital. It was hard enough for the clumsy, but certified nurse to comprehend. 

_ "Hanako, please sit still." Mujo gently moved the black-haired boy back in place to continue rubbing the ointment on his back. "But it's coooold." Hanako whined but still follows the nurse's orders.  _

_ "So, let me try to understand this again." Mujo directed his attention to the three upperclassmen. "Sunobu-san, you were dipping Hanako back--maybe a bit too far--because you asked him to be your practice partner and that involved the dip?" _

_ "Yes."  _

_ "Aaaaand then Najimi-san and Odayaka-san--Whoopsie daisy!" Mujo's hand quickly moved to catch Hanako's collar to keep him from falling forward. "We don't want you falling on your face. Do we, Yamada-san?" The pink-haired nurse laid him back on the bed, earning a babyish 'no' from Hanako. "Now, where did I leave off...Ah! Yes, I remember. So Najimi-san and Odayaka-san came and that surprised you, making you drop Yamada-san?"  _

_ "No--" _

_ "Yes." Osano cuts in and Amao sighs, already feeling the spark of any argument coming up.  _

_ "Who asked you, peasant?!"  _

_ "Last I checked, he's questioning all of us, dumbass!"  _

_ "Well you're giving him the wrong information!"  _

_ "Am not! We came in and you dropped him!"  _

_ "After, AFTER you accused me of trying to seduce him!"  _

_ "Which you were and dropped him without a second thought!"  _

_ Mujo watched the two bickering and honestly didn't know what to do. Should he step in or just let them argue to get it out of their system? He’s seen studies where that method is used as therapy. "Nurse Kina," Amao gets the pink-haired nurse's attention away from the pair, "We did come in and surprise Kizano and Hanako. Osano saw the position Hanako was in and accused Kizano of trying to 'seduce' him and Kizano, understandably, got upset and dropped Hanako to explain himself." If anyone counted Kizano arguing with Osano as 'explaining himself', then Kizano defended his case three times today.  _

_ "I know Kizano didn't mean to purposely drop Hanako." Amao saw Hanako reach his hand out and flex his fingers in a grabby motion. The brunet smiled and humored Hanako by letting him hold his hand. "It's just that when Kizano and Osano see each other, things immediately...heated and they go into a fit of rage."  _

_ Hanako giggled, "Amao, Osano is always in a fit of rage."  _

_ "He is?" Mujo remembers seeing Osano's medical file a while back when he bruised a few of his knuckles from punching a wall or something. Even though Mujo didn’t have the best memory, he definitely remembered not seeing ‘anger issues’ on Osano’s file.  _

_ "Yeah, but he can turn into a big ball of sunshine in a second~!" Hanako ran his thumb over the baker's hand. "You get used to his mood swings once you've been in our threesome."  _

"Hanako, I still can't believe you referred to us as a threesome again...to the school nurse." Amao could feel his face heat up and covers his face with his hands. "Oh he probably thinks we're monsters." 

"Why would Nurse Kina think we're monsters? And what's the matter with using the word threesome?" Hanako had tilted his head too much to the side and land itself on Kizano's shoulder, who Hanako invited along to join them at the 'overly pink and sickening' cafe as Kizano described it. (Amao had shot Osano a slight smug look with a smile that said 'two of a kind'). Hanako wanted to treat Kizano for all the trouble he caused and insisted it be ice cream because ice cream is the best cure for anything. Kizano doesn't immediately move his head off but instead gives it a small pat like a small dog. 

"Because he probably thinks we're using you for...for…!" Osano's cheeks start to turn red at the lewd thought, "Gah! You know what I'm talking about. You watch cartoon porn--” “Hentai.” “--Whatever, idiot. I still can't believe you referred to us as a fucking threesome to the school nurse. What if he reports us to a teacher, the principal, the police, or, even worse--" Osano feels shivers down his shine, "--the guidance counselor and student council." 

Everyone, except Hanako, who still didn't recognize the severity of the issue, shivered at the thought of the two groups finding out. Once anyone has been interrogated by the guidance counselor or have been tracked down by student council, it honestly made any future encounter with law enforcement, or the devil himself, a cakewalk. 

Kizano has been watching the trio’s interactions since the auditorium bust. He noticed that even through Osano seemed like an unstoppable hot-headed--which he was--he seemed to be easily calmed by Amao. When Amao let Hanako hold his hand and noticed how Hanako caressed it like it was the most beautiful thing on earth--probably the head injury’s work--and Amao didn't seem to mind, he simply smiled and humored the boy. He noticed how Osano overprotective became when he immediately thought Hanako was in a bad spot with Kizano trying to steal his innocence. From all these scenes, Kizano could only ask one question. 

"Are you three courting each other?" 

That question immediately brought an awkward silence to the table, so awkward it made the waitress want to go back into the kitchen even though she had their order, so she quickly placed the sundaes down and immediately walked away. Once she was out of earshot, Hanako finally broke the silence. "If 'courting' means 'being best friends', then ye--" 

"Baka, shut up. And to answer your question, Hell no. We're not 'courting'." Osano says courting in a mocking royal uppity tone, "Why the hell would you ask that? Hell, why are you even here?!" 

"Because, Najimi, Hanako invited me to come. And I, Kizano Sunobu, was raised to be a gentleman unlike you." That gets a huff out of Osano and a small smile makes it way on Kizano's lips. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but it was a bit fun to get the tsundere riled up once in a while. "Besides--" There was soft poke to his cheek and Kizano sees it was from Hanako. "Yes?" 

"Can I have your cherry?" Kizano simply plucks the cherry off his sundae and gives it to Hanako, who thanks him in a tone that resembled a small child. "Besides, after almost breaking his back, almost giving him a concussion, and him helping me with my practice overall, me accepting his invitation to come out is the least I can as payment." 

"But don't you usually practice with one of the Drama club members? Like Kokona?" Amao suggests and sees Hanako reaching over for his bowl. The brunet saves him the trouble and hands over his cherry, earning a babyish thank you.

"You would be right, Baker boy, but she became sick as a dog halfway through the day and I excused her to go home early." 

"What play is your club doing again?" Osano asks, the purple ice cream on his spoon is licked off with the long drag of his tongue. He smacks the small hand that was making its way towards his bowl. Osano intended on keeping his cherry. " _ The Raven  _ or something?”

" _ The Raven _ is a poem written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1834. You can't exactly act out a poem since it's not in a play format. We could do that, but that would be a major conversion writing session." Kizano explains, "We're doing a theater classic. William Shakespeare's 1595 Romeo and Juliet." The purple-haired boy wanted to slap himself for letting his true colors of being a history buff show. No one was to ever know that. 

"You're doing Romeo and Juliet again? Don't you ever get tired of doing the cliche plays?" 

"If I love them, I wouldn’t mind doing them a hundred times over. Besides," Kizano props his elbows on the table and laces his fingers together, resting his chin on top, "you seem like a fan of cliches~" 

Osano's mind went completely blank at the comment, mainly because of the tone it was said in. It wasn't said in a snobby or taunting tone. If it was, Osano knew exactly what to say and would do it immediately, but the comment wasn’t even insulting. It was--dare Osano say this--said in a tone that would be written off as flirty and playful teasing. Osano Najimi did NOT know how to respond to that and instead went back to eating his sundae in silence. When he gets home, Osano needs to sleep this off and figure out a plan on avoiding Kizano until one of them graduated.

"Sunobu-senpai~!" Hanako gains the club leader's attention again and lifts his head up, "I never told you that you were amazing during practice. I've never been to any of your shows, at least not yet, but I'm sure there just as great~! Better even." 

"Thank you, I know~!" Kizano snaps back to that snobby Kizano Sunobu everyone knew and loved. "And Darling, call me Kizano." 

"You parents must love your shows as well." Kizano's confident smile remained but Hanako could see it falter a bit at the comment. "Oh they definitely love my shows, Darling." He swirls the spoon around in the purple mixture that was starting to melt, and in a slightly lower voice says, "I know they would love them." 

'I know they would love them'? That statement made Hanako and Amao look at eachother and immediately assume the worst possible option. "Kizano, I'm sorry for your lost." 

Kizano looks up in shock, "My lost? What are you talking about?" 

"Sunobu, you just said you know your parents would love your shows." Osano reminds him, deciding to step into the conversation again after getting over his embarrassment. "And you said it in a depressing tone, meaning that your parents are...gone, right?" 

"You guys think my parents are...Oh...Oh! No Darling. My parents are not dead." Kizano quickly clears up the mistake and even laughs a bit. "They are very much alive, very much healthy, and, at the moment, in Rome. They just don't come to my shows." 

"How come?" Hanako tilts his head and can feel a headache coming on. He's heard around that Kizano's parents are in the film and theater business and have been in the business for a long time, so it wasn’t a big surprise that Kizano went into theater and was an outstanding actor. Although, it’s a very big surprise to hear that his parents didn’t seem to be interested or are even following their son’s small but rising success. 

Kizano quickly shoved a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth and hums, "You have to understand something, that I eventually had to understand. My parents are very busy people. They don't have time for my, as they called it, trivial kindergarten plays." That was a stab to the heart when Kizano’s parents told him that. It still tugged at Kizano’s heart when he thought about that statement or their small argument. 

After that argument, they never apologized or even attempted to apologize. They’re probably never going to apologize as long as Kizano was still breathing. If they didn’t show up to his shows, that’s okay. Kizano got over it. But they never even send flowers in their place after his plays. He remembers getting a bouquet of sunflowers with a note of congratulations on his show, signed by his mom and dad and he remembers being filed with absolute joy, before it settled and he realized it wasn’t from them. Sunflowers were considered a country flower and his parents hated sunflowers and the country. They were from his aunt and uncle, who lived out in the country and where the only ones who seemed to show genuine interest in his hobby, but also trying to mend a shaky bong on his parents behalf with his parents’ permission. 

"They said they don't have any time, yet their schedule is more flexible than an Olympic gymnast." Kizano sighs, "I'll admit, I turn a little green with envy when I see everyone else's parents come up to the school to see their achievements or just to check up on them. I remember a few faces of the parents since they resemble their kids. I know whose parents came to school and whose parents have not. Like I've never seen Hanako's parents nor Osano's, but honestly I think Osano was sprouted out of the ground like a carrot and wasn’t born from a womb." 

"Fuck you." 

"Not even if you were the last warm body on earth." There was that dangerously flirty teasing tone again that shut Osano down. Kizano laughs before looking at Amao, "But I remember someone coming to see you. You were running around the school and she couldn't find you, so I took her to the Cooking Club room to wait for you." 

Amao blinks, "You...you met my mom?" His mom told him a student showed her around and was very nice, but she never told him who it was and Amao just assumed it was one of the student council members. 

"Of course. I even had a lovely conversation with her as I walked her to the Cooking Club room and I must say, she is a very lovely woman and I see where you get your personality from, Darling." Kizano licks his thumb of the stray ice cream that got on his hand, all while keeping eye contact with Amao. "She also gave me a cookie that she baked for you and I know where you got your baking skills from." 

"Why, um," Amao clears his throat and a slight tint was coming up to his cheeks. "Thank you, Kizano." 

_ 'My god I don't know what's worse, him being a narcissist or being a flirt.'  _ Osano wanted couldn't believe the interaction he was watching. Kizano saw the slight look of displeasure on his face, "What's the matter, Najimi? Jealous that someone has my attention and it isn't you~?" 

“N-No, you narcissistic Baka!" Osano tightly clutches the spoon in his hand, "I could care less! Give Amao all you stupid, shitty, flirty compliments! He loves that stuff!" Amao does a double take at the comment, "W-What? Osano, No I don't!" 

"In fact, he flirts with people without even realizing it!" 

"No I--Wait, I do?" 

Osano slowly turns to look at him and stares at him for a minute. "...Yes. Yes you do." Amao shakes his head and chuckles, "No, No, No. I don't...obliviously flirt." 

"Oh yes you do, Amao." Kizano backs up the claim, "You are unaware of the many blushing brides you leave in your tread with a simply complement, pet name, or flash of that smile." 

Amao looks between the two of them. He knew these two were more alike than one way, but never thought they work on the same side for his downfall. Amao only had one person left who could save him from this madness. “Hanako, do I--Hanako?” Everyone looks at the black-haired boy to see he had his head down and looked unresponsive. “Hanako, Sweetheart, are you alright?”

“Yeah…my back hurts. That’s all.” Hanako response was muffled until he turned his head to rest his cheek on the table. “And Kizano and Osano are right. You do flirt without realizing it--” 

“Sugarcube, that’s the head bump talking.” 

“No it’s not. Head bumps can’t talk. It’s me." Hanako felt the need to clarify, "And you do sweet talk--get it? Sweet talk?--people without realizing it. Even me, but I don't mind. I like it when you call me 'sweetheart', or 'sweetie, or 'sugarcube', or 'cutie pie' like that one time. That made me feel real special~" 


	6. Not My Valentine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since Hanako brutally notices that all of his friends are single and his parents and brother have pther plans, he decides to host something special for his friends.  
(Post-Post...Post Valnetine's Day Special)

"Hanako, I hope you know that I find this really gay."

"That's great ~! I'm glad you're happy." Osano groans at his friend's blind optimism and throws the covers over his head and turns over in bed.He was suffering from a major migraine and couldn't be bothered to deal with his childhood friend. Hanako doesn't move from his current position of laying right next to the physically in pain orange-haired boy. He instead turns on his side and facing the back of the covered body. "Osano?" He gets a muffled groan in response, "Are your parents doing anything this weekend?"

"Yeah they're going out for Valentine's Day as always."

Hanako waits a moment to ask his next question, even though he knew the answer was going to be no. "Are you doing anything?"

"Eh." Was the only response and Hanako was going to take that as a no, which worked out perfectly for his plans.

"Great~!" Hanako's parents were going out on a date and Taro was going out with Ayano and Hanako didn't have anything else to do. "Then let's go on a date~!"

There wasn't an immediate response but the covers do move off Osano as he gives Hanako a squinted look,"...what?"

"I said, let's go on a da--"

"I know what you said, Baka! Why the hell are you asking me out?!"

"Because you have nothing to do, I have nothing to do. Let's compromise and do something together~!"

"What if I have other plans?!" Osano tries to argue.

"You just said you weren't doing anything!"

"I said 'eh' which doesn't mean yes or no. Besides I could have a girlfriend!" Hanako gives him an incredulous look that silently speaks 'I highly doubt it' and Osano blushes, "S-Shut up and fuck off, Hanako!" Osano groans, turning over and burying himself under the covers again, hoping the younger boy will take the hint and leave him alone. Unfortunately, hope was on break at the moment and Osano almost exploded as he felt Hanako move closer and lean against his shoulder."What made you come up with that idea anyway?"

"Oh I had some help.You see, Amao suggested it--" .

"Ah yes the housewife."

"Well let me rearrange that, I suggested the four of us spend Valentine's Day together, since we have no else besides eachother--" "Please don't make it sound that way." "--and suggested that we also have dinner, courtesy of Amao, at Kizano's house, courtesy of Kizano, as a foursome." "God you said it that way."

"Come on, Osano," Hanako shakes his shoulder a bit,trying to tempt his friend."It'll be fuuuuunnnn. There will be fooooood. Amao's food at that."

Osano was a simple and sometimes easy to sway guy, but he laid all his cards on the table at the mention of food. "Fine, I'll come. But I swear if any freaky Fifty Shades of Grey shit happens, I'm leaving in a heartbeat."

~~♡~~

If Osano was given an creative writing assignment describing how seeing Kizano's house, or the whole neighborhood in general made him feel, he would write down that it felt like he traveled to another part of the world. It felt as if he was in Japan one minute and then teleported to some historical ancient neighborhood in Greece the next. And strangely enough, that wasn't the main thing Osano questioned about Kizano's house.

"Why the hell does he have so many fountains?" Osano looks around the spacious green frontyard as he and Hanako walk up towards the door, glancing at every birdbath and small token fountains laid out and really questioning who needs this many water displays. Hanako, who was easily wowed by anything in existence and the minimalist of things, didn't question a single thing and was simply marveled at the sights to the point where he just stood in front of the doors without knocking or ringing the doorbell. "Baka, knock on the door."

"Oh!" Hanako comes out of his daze and starts searching through the many roses bushes planted in front of the house like a squirrel in search for acorns. "Kizano said that he might be busy getting ready and wouldn't be able to answer the door, so he told me to just--Ah Ha! Found it!" Hanako comes out of the bushes holding up a simple key. "Let ourselves in with the spare key in the rose bushes."

Walking into the Parthenon house, Hanako gets starry eyed at the elaborate foyer that was brightly illuminated by a chandelier (Osano wouldn't be surprised if he went blind at this point) "Are you seeing this place, Osano? His house is huge! Probably bigger than both our houses."

"Of course it's bigger, Hanako--Baka, come wipe your feet off." Osano quickly grabs the back of Hanako's collar and brings him back to the door. "His parents are in the film or theater industry. Meanwhile your dad is like an accountant."

"Hey, they get paid good money to do numbers all day!"

"Which is ironic, since you're absolutely horrible at doing math." Osano lets the ravenette go once he was done wiping his feet and lets him venture further into the foyer.

"I'm getting better at tha--" Hanako stops and looks around the room, as if he was sensing something. "I smell food." The ravenette doesn't wait for a response as he immediately starts following his nose and letting his sense of smell lead the way. Osano follows after him to make sure he didn't get lost or break anything, and once again questions the abundance of certain objects. Lining the rich colored walls were not only colorful paintings, but darkened bronze candle holders posted on the walls with burning candles that dimly lit the hallways and alabaster portrait busts placed on pedestals lined the halls as well. Again, Osano was met with the feeling of being teleported to another region in the world. From Japan to Greece, from Greece to...a haunted castle littered with vampires and werewolves in Transylvania.

Why a haunted castle littered with vampires and werewolves in Transylvania? Because it felt like Kizano was going to come out from the shadows, take off his theater mask, and reveal that he's been a vampire this whole time and this was a lure to get them to his house and eat them. 'Why the fuck does he have so mant busts? Not even an art museum has this many busts.'

Their journey through the house leads them to the kitchen unsurprisingly and they find a familiar brunet shuffling around in the old world but pristine white tiled kitchen. He doesn't notice them right away--as he was deeply immersed in the task at hand and no one dared to try and break that concentration--and moves around the kitchen that offered much more legroom than the pink kitchen at school. Once Amao settled down to a point where he wasn't so busy, in Hanako's opinion, Hanako finally decides to make their presence known. "Hello, Amao~!" Amao almost drops the bowl he was carrying, "Oh you two are here. I thought you two would come here later."

"Trust me, if we came any later following Hanako's time, then the food would be cold." Hanako pouts at the comment, but it goes ignored as the comment couldn't be any farther from the truth. Hanako followed the much more passive version of 'we get there when we get there' with 'If I'm supposed to be there at 8AM, expect me at 10AM because I have no sense of time' (Osano even got him that ridiculous Hello Kitty snap watch and Hanako still come late). "Why are you cooking in Kizano's kitchen?"

"For easier convenience." Amao leans back against a counter, "Kizano offered me free reign over his kitchen as it would be easier to cook here and take it to the table rather than me carrying 30 plates here and back home."

"Speaking of the narcissist, where is our gracious host?" Osano asks as he hasn't seen the guy anywhere in the house. Hanako lets out an inaudible gasp at the sight of fresh red strawberries sitting innocently on the kitchen counter undisturbed. Hanako slowly shuffles over to them without making himself too suspicious. "Oh he's upstairs getting ready."

"When did he leave to go do that?"

"About…" Amao looks at the clock on the wall and 'huh' at seeing how long he's been working for. "...two hours ago--Hanako."

Hanako had managed to successfully acquire the strawberries and was in the middle of stuffing his face with a few before he was caught red handed--both literally and figuratively--by Amao. He froze but didn't put the strawberries down, "H-Huh?"

"Are you eating my strawberries?"

"....No?" The response came out more as a question than an answer.

"You idiot, why are lying when he can obviously see you with the berries in your hand?" Osano decides he shouldn't think so hard and lose brain cells over the enigma of Hanako's brain and decides to move onto to other things that he could make sense of. "I'm going to go bother the drama queen. Hanako, help your 'mom' with the food."

Amao blushes at the comment and calls to the orange-haired boy who was already making his way back to the stairs. The brunet saw no point in arguing with his friend and looked back at Hanako, who was trying to hide the strawberries in his hands. He needed to give him a task that wouldn't cause an accident down the line. "Hanako, how would you like to be my tester for today?"

"Really~?!" Hanako asks in shock and excitement, Amao nods and becks him over with a finger. The ravenette finishes off the strawberries and goes over, "Can I lick the spoons and bowls?"

"Only the tester ones, but not the ones I use to mix stuff. That wouldn't be very sanitary."

~~♡~~

"Sunobu, you in here?" Osano peaks his head into now the twelfth room ever since he started his search. Most of the previous rooms were empty or had furniture covered in white sheets, clear sign it wasn't on use or used as storage. However, this room was the complete opposite and the first and obvious clue was the color of the room, as it was a dark purple with hints splashes of red and white. Osano could have guessed this was Kizano's room from the color scheme alone but with the canopy bed in the room, probably added for dramatic flair, made it clear that this was definitely the actor's room.

Osano slips into the room to further look around, looking over the bookcase stacked with classic literature and history books, a vanity dresser (Again. Osano wasn't surprised as it was for dramatic flair probably), and another dresser that was filled with picture frames and photos. That was something that definitely got Osano attention and walks over to find that they were mostly pictures of kids that could be a few years younger than Hanako, a couple that could pass for Kizano's parents but seeing as they were standing in front of either a rustic barn or pastures, he said otherwise.

There was one picture that was hidden behind the others and Osano picked it up to see it was boy maybe 11 or 12 with short tousled hair and gap between his two front teeth. It didn't take long for the lightbulb to light up and Osano to figure out that this was a younger Kizano. A Kizano in a much earlier phase as current Kizano's teeth were straight with no spaces in between and not a hair out of place. Although, Osano did chuckle at the thought of a younger Kizano wearing braces. Oh he would've died of embarrassment. "Ha! He was a total nerd."

Just at that moment, Kizano enters his room drying his hair with a towel, unaware that an uninvited guest was in his room. Once the towel was taken off his head, Kizano freezes at seeing an equally frozen Osano. Both of them stare at each other for a while before they both let out a shriek of terror; one at the unexpected and uninvited guest and the other at seeing the person half naked.

"Why are you in my room?!"

"Why are you naked?!"

"This is MY room! I'm supposed to be naked in here, you half brained peasant!" Kizano quickly makes his way to his closet and throws on the blue robe, tying it off securely before removing the towel from underneath. "I don't even have my hair nor my face made."

Osano blinks as he could have gone on with life without seeing that act. "Why are making such a big deal? It's only the four of us having dinner." That truth doesn't stop Kizano from walking over to his vanity, switching on the lights and start his multiple elaborate step hair routine. Osano rolls his eyes as 'Rapunzel' started to brush out her locks and falls back onto his bed, which was really soft. Too soft. It made him feel like he was going to sink into the floor.

"Just because it's dinner amongst friends, doesn't mean I'm going to down myself to dress in rags and look...plain." He swivels around, "What if someone important comes over and sees me so...casual?" Kizano cringes at the possibility and turns back around to continue on with his hair, "I must look presentable at all times, Darling. At all times. Do you think the president lets himself be seen so casually?"

"I don't know. I've never seen him outside of school in the first place. Besides he hasn't been in school for what...3 weeks now. I think you're just being over dramatic as usual."

"You call it being over dramatic, I call it caring in the way I look." Kizano goes to pull his hair together but stops as he lets it fall down again, fiddling with on the purple ringlets that curled from the water. "...Maybe I should let my hair down." Kizano knew immediately he should have kept that to himself as he heard a laugh from his friend.

"God you really are a princess--Ow!" Osano immediately sits up at the hard projectile that struck in the leg, looking down to see it was a hairbrush. "You stuck up ass." He looks at the actor and squints his eyes at the sight he sees, "Are...are you putting on eyeliner?"

"No, it's eyeshadow you uncultured swine!" Kizano continues on with the task at hand with careful precision, "It brings out my wonderful eyes. It could do wonders to your eyes--Well...it could do wonders to your entire face actually if you cared enough about your appearance. Which reminds me," Kizano stares at Osano in the mirror, "I noticed you're not wearing your hair in that side ponytail."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You actually look like a guy today.."

Osano turns completely red and gets up from the bed, making his way to the door. "Whatever you fucking prima donna. At least I don't look like a total chick from the back with my hair down like you--" Something soft hits and lands over Osano's head, completely obscuring his vision. "What the hell did you throw at me this time?" He pulls the soft curtain off and immediately pales at what it was. It wasn't anything dramatic, only a simple white towel. The same simple white towel that was covering Kizano not a few minutes ago.

Kizano smirks at seeing Osano open and close his mouth like a fish out of water with no sound before he lets out a scream in terror.

~~♡~~

Osano watches as Hanako hums as he light the candles sitting on the table, seeing the ravenette flinch as he clumsily burns himself with the matches the fourth time in the room. "What are you doing Hanako? The lights are already on."

"I know." He lights the last candle without burning himself and hurries over to the light switch, cutting off the lights and leaving them in the mellow light from the candles. Hanako sits himself next to Osano and beams with excitement. "This is fun~! This is very fun~!"

"Hanako, again, why did you light candles?"

"He's--" Amao puts a hand to his chest at the small hiccup that arose, "--He's trying to set the mood." Another hiccup arose and he reached for his glass to drown it out. This has been happening since Hanakon helped him in the kitchen.

"Okay, okay…" Amao settled down as he looked over the dishes laid out in front of him. "Everything, food wise, is done...now...I just need a dessert." One would think the dessert aspect would be easiest to figure out as Amao was more of a baker with a mental fountain that was always flowing with liquid creativity, but at the moment the fountain was dry.

"Amao." Hanako came over to the counter, balancing a couple tall green bottles and two glasses in his arms and set them down on the counter. "Look what I found in the cabinets."

"Wine?"

"No, silly." Hanako opened a bottle and filled one of the glasses with the clear but golden liquid, handing it off to the brunet. "It's cider. Apple cider."

"Oh thank you, but I don't usually drink while I work, not even most of the time." Amao pushed the glass back but Hanako pushed it back, insisting he drink it. Even more now that he knows Amao doesn't hydrate himself as he worked. "It's only cider, Amao. You won't get drunk off cider. Even if you could, it's only one glass." Amao made a face as he debated the decisions, but once Hanako gave him those puppy dog eyes, he couldn't say no. "Oh alright, but only one."

Hanako nodded and watched in delight as Amao drank the cider in one go. He coughed and laughed at the taste, "Wow that was actually good. Although it burns my throat, but I can look past that." A lightbulb went off in Hanako's head as he got an idea on how to keep Amao hydrated while he made Hanako refilled the glass and pushed it towards him again, making another puppy dog look."Yes you can~!"

Osano looks between the two with suspicion, especially Amao who wasn't acting like his usual self. The suspicion didn't settle as he saw the slight flush across the brunet's cheeks. "What kind of mood? Hanako, I told you and you know I will do it, If this turns into something out of Fifty Shades of Grey, I run out of here faster than a bat out of hell.

Hanako shakes his head and quickly dissolves the accusation. "It's not, it's not! I swear, Osano!" Amao looked around the room and the empty seat next to him. "Where's Kizano?" He asks. Osano snorts at the question and leans back into his chair, "Probably still putting on his makeup."

"For your information, I was fixing my hair." Kizano walks into the room at that moment and over to his seat, but not before sliding a finger across Osano's back to mess with him. Osano swipes the assaulting hand away. "Cut it out!"

Hanako's eyes went to Kizano's appearance and was immediately and utterly amazed by it. Kizano on a regular day was always well kept and wouldn't be caught dead with a hair out a place, but this was beyond 'well kept' for Hanako. The purple hair that was kept in the single drill daily was now a waterfall of violet waves, amethyst eyes were enhanced by the dark eyeshadow and the tinted red lips. Overall, Kizano, at the moment, was--

"Wow, you really look like a full prima donna who was divorced twi--Ow!" Osano looks under the table to see who kicked him. "Amao what the hell man?"

"That wasn't nice, Osano. Kizano looks very nice and breathtaking." Amao complements his friend, if not his tone was a bit slurred. Kizano smiles and moves a stray strand of hair behind his ear, "Thank you, Amao. Hanako, Darling, close your mouth before flies move in." Hanako immediately closes his floored mouth, which he didn't even know was open, and wipes the drool that started to form. The actor drinks from his filled glass and immediately makes a face at the taste, reaching over and taking the green bottle. He turns it over a few times to see that there wasn't a label. "Loves, where did you find this?"

"Oh in the kitchen in the very back cabinet. It's cider." Hanako responds. Kizano gives him a skeptic look, "Are you sure? Where are the labels?"

The ravenette shrugs, "Maybe they fell off from age? I heard that happens from the temperature of the room and how that affects the glue." Kizano takes another sip and stares at the glass for a minute, "...Hanako, this is champagne."

"Huh," Osano pulls his glass away and stares at it, "No wonder this stuff is really fizzy." He simply shrugs it off and continues on with it. He was already in deep with this drink--go big or go home at this point--and Amao was practically drowning as he was on his fourth glass. "You're going to keep drinking it?"  
Kizano asks.

"Does it look like I'm doing otherwise? Besides what my parents don't know, won't hurt them."

"What our parents don't know, won't hurt them." Amao repeats with a giggle and hiccups in between. "Now that everyone is here, let's eat! Because I'm starving!" And he really shouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach.

"Yes! Finally!" Hanako cheers.

~~♡~~

Dinner went along smoothly being that Osano and Kizano still had their banters over the smallest things, but at least they didn't throw themselves over the table to choke the other, or stab them with a fork...which was a huge success. Amao basically became a large sack of hiccups and giggles as the night tagged along and he kept drinking--Osano tried to take the bottle from him and was met with a fork being stabbed right in the slither of space where his fingers meet...No one tried to take the bottle from Amao after that--yet he was able to keep a normal conversation as if he was perfectly sober, except he had a bit of...lewdness added to his sweet personality.

Hanako stops them in the middle of their dinner at some point to make a proposal. "I think we should go around the table and say what we're most thankful for."

"Hanako, that's Thanksgiving, Sweetie. It's only Fewb...Fweb...February." Amao licks his lips at the slurring of his words. February was a funny name to him in general right behind January.

"Okay~! I can work around that. Let's go around the table then and say what we love the most about…" Hanako pauses for dramatic effect for the announcement, "...eachother~!" He was met with complete silence, even on Amao's end, but that didn't taint his attitude. "Now everyone don't talk all at once. I know you all have many things that you love about the other person, but let's stick to one thing per person and go one at a time." Hanako almost snapped his neck by turning to he chose to go first. The person right next to him. "Osano you go first~!"

Osano chokes on his drink, "N-Nani? Why the hell can't you go first baka?! This was your idea!"

Hanako lets out a small whine, "pleeeeeeeeaaaasssse, Osano? Just go first? I promise I won't ask for anything el--"

"Stop." Osano holds up a hand, "Stop right there you damn liar. You know damn well you're going to ask me for something tomorrow morning." Osano knew he shouldn't have agreed to come here. He knew Hanako was going to get them to talk about their feelings, which Osano was terrible at talking about, but he knew Hanako wouldn't drop this. So fine, Osano will do this feelings session, but like hell was he using 'love' and 'Kizano' in the same sentence. "What I ADMIRE most about Sunobu is his self awareness in the fact that he's not that pleasing to the eye. That he knows what's in pants could melt the eyeballs out of someone's skull and he cared enough about my wellbeing that he didn't flash me while I was upstairs. Which I'm very thankful for."

"Osano, you were upstairs in Kizano's room while he was naked?" Amao gasps as if he just heard a juicy scandal. "And here I thought you two hated each other."

Kizano paid no mind to the comment, his mind still preoccupied by Osano's comment. He likes his red tinted lips and chuckles, "So we're doing that aren't we, peasant? Hanako, I'll do you the pleasure of going next." Hanako mimics the noise of a dying whale at the offer, "What I admire most about Najimi is his ability to push people ten thousand miles away with only a couple words. As soon as he opens his mouth to say something, people are already packing and migrating to China. That is a very, very great skill when it comes to the tongue. Well that and…" Kizano drinks from his glass, "...something else that Najimi is probably good at~."

The tsundere turns red enough to make a tomato look pink at the insulting innuendo as he starts to get up along with a fork in hand. "Why you--!"

"Amao--!" Hanako cuts in and grabs Osano's hand tightly, settling him back down into his seat to diffuse the situation. "-- it's your turn!...please."

"Of course!" Amao sets down his--who even counting anymore--glass of champagne,almost tipping it over. "What I admire most about you, Hanako, is your... optimism! And-and your never depleting supply of energy. I found it amazing, no, admiring that you can still show it even when you're sad. It can be suffocating sometimes, but in a good way like a warm hug or blanket...and I like hugs and blankets, therefore I like you."

"Amao stoooopp." Hanako gives a small playful wave of dismissal at the comment. The line was starting to blur between things sober Amao and drunk Amao would say when it came to compliments. "What I admire most about Amao is his smile--" Osano and Kizano groan at the mush festival taking place, "--because besides it being blinding beautiful, he offers it to everyone and anyone, even when he doesn't feel like smiling." Hanako sips his champagne through the swirly straw--where did he get it? No one knows. Kizano hasn't had swirly straws in the house since he was 5--and coughs at the taste. "Osano, your turn again."

"Ugh fine um...Amao."

"Hmmmm~?"

"Dont...dont look at me like that, you drunk idiot. Look, What I admire most about you is...your…" Osano had a million things he could say he admired about Amao, but he could say a majority of things because he would rather, one, die then say them out loud and two, Amao was in not state to receive them  
the way they're meant to be taken. So Osano settled on the safest option. "...cooking."

"My...cooking?" Amao thinks over the answer and giggles, "And here I thought you liked me for my good looks and personality." Then again his mom always told him the quickest way to a person's heart is their stomach. That's how his mom got his dad.

"Yes, I-I know that sounds weird but it makes sense once I explain it. Um, shit…" Kizano couldn't help but laugh at Osano fumbling over his words. "Shut up! It's not like he'll remember this in the morning--And I swear to god, if he doesn't remember and you tell him Sunobu, I will shove roses so far up your ass you'll be coughing petals till your next show." Osano finally gathers up his words and forms them into something that was semi-cohesive, "I admire your cooking because actions speak louder than words. When you give me food in a way it shows that you...care about me. I know I can be a bit stubborn--"

"Pfft a bit?"

"Sunobu, that vase of roses is within arms reach, so shut the hell up." Osano fires off a quick warning before continuing, "I'll rephrase that. I know I can be very stubborn, very hard to work with, and kinda brush off your caring acts, but I like them. Very much. Like that one time you gave me a cookie in the bathroom when I wasn't feeling well, which thinkin back on it now, that wasn't very sanitary. Why did you take the cookies into the bathroom with you? I'll never know. There was also the time you gave me a popsicle after I punched one of Musemo's friends in the eye--"

"You really need to stop getting into fights with them, pumpkin."

Osano looks at him in disbelief at the nickname. Was he calling him that because of his hair? "...I can't help it. They have such punchable faces when they open their mouths, but that's not the point. In short, I admire your cooking because it puts your caring nature in a way that I can actually understand and receive. So...there, housewife."

"Not a housewife!" Amao states for the record, "But if I was, at least I'm your housewife."

"Baka! Don't say it like that!"

"Kizano, your turn again!" Hanako announces.

"Okay, how about I do you, Darling?" The ravenette nods at the actor's suggestion, "What I admire most about you, Hanako, is your ability in always wanting to help. Whether your help sometimes does more harm than good, or more good than harm, you always help people." A small hiccup is let out as Kizano drags a finger around the red stained rim of the glass. "You always help people no matter their reputation--even Musemo and he's terrible--you will always stop to help the person if you have the chance. Even me and I'll admit, I can be a very hard to work with and I'm sure you heard how I'm a bit of a narcissist--"

"You ARE a narciss--" "Shhhh." Osano is immediately silenced by Kizano shushing him and reaching over to place a finger on his lips. "I'm talking, bumpkin. Don't be rude." He moves his finger away and goes back to talking to Hanako as if he didn't do something so...intimate. "You stopped to help me that day nonetheless and even invited me out after I gave you a slight concussion. Your compassion is something that can only be found a few times in a lifetime, like a rose growing in a field of daisies."

"A rose in a field of daisies?" Hanako muses over the poetic comparison and was honestly surprised Kizano wasn't a poet like Edgar Allen Po--wait he wrote horror and mystery. That seemed more up someone with a dark and spooky asethetic's alley. "Osano and Kizano," Amao turns the spotlight on himself again, "I'm going to do both of you at the same time~!" Osano coughs at how much of a double meaning that sentence held. "What I admire most about you two is your...attitude."

Kizano and Osana look at each other in visible confusion. The baker was seriously drunk off his ass and wasn't in his right mind because he likes their attitude? They get the opposite opinion about their attitude, even from each other. "Our attitude?"

"Yes I like your attitude." Amao says again, confirming what they just heard wasn't a mistake. "Yes it can be a bit rude, brutish, and a bit belittling at times but I like it. It has spunk like thisss...big pot of cinnamon, chili powder and-and...sugar. Yeah sugar. That probably smells and tastes nice." His words slowly off and become quiet to the point no one knew what was being said out of Amao's mouth. Hanako looks at the ever spiteful duo, "You two have to do a do-over."

"Hell no!"

"I already said something nice about this cretan!"

"What did you just call me you pompous ass?!"

"See! That's why you two have to do a do-over!" Hanako points out, "What you two said earlier to each other wasn't nice or very admiring. You two have to say something actually nice to each other." Both of them roll their eyes in disgust at the task, but they both give out a reluctant noise of agreement. "Great~! Now who's going first?"

"..."

"..."

Hanako pouts at the stubborn and prideful silence from the two. "Okay then I'll pick who's going first with the fairest picker in the universe." Hanako digs into his pocket and takes out a coin, tossing it into the air and covering it once it landed on the back of his palm. "Pick."

"Tails"

"Heads."

Hanako uncovers his hand to reveal the coin was on tails. "Kizano you have to go first."

Kizano hissed at not listening to his hut and picking heads instead. "Alright. What I…What I admire most about Najimi is…" Kizano pauses to think of something, even biting on his finger to figure it out. He finally settles on something and responds, without an ounce of disdain or tesee in his voice, "...your protective nature over your friends. You're very protective over the people you care about. Like the day you assumed I was being inappropriate with Hanako. Even though he annoys you sometimes--" "Most of the time." "Hey!" "--even though he annoys you, you didn't hesitate to jump to his aid. And that...is something I admire very much about you, Najimi." Kizano didn't get an immediate response as Osano simply stared at him as if he couldn't believe his ears before a small smirk rose on his face. "Oh don't let that get to your head, peasant!" Kizano down his champagne to calm his red cheeks.

"Since it's still my turn, I would like to get another person out the way, except this next person is someone I won't have a hard time saying what I want to say about them." Kizano props his elbows on the table--His parents would have a fit--and leans onto his folded hands, looking at Amao, who was slightly dozing off. "What I admire most about Amao--" the brunet wakes himself up at the call of his name, "--Glad you're with me, Darling, what I admire most about you is your ability to calm people. Even the most hot headed and stubborn people." A look is shot at Osano, "Whether it's your actions or your words and with your words you could be saying absolute gibberish and somehow they still make someone feel at ease. That's a gift not many people have." Kizano throws Osano a side eye look, "Now says something nice about me Najimi."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Osano snaps back before settling down, "Sunobu, what I admire most about you is your unshakable confidence. Never in my life have I seen someone whose confidence can stay in tact after every drawback, that it can be written off as you being arrogant, cocky, or a narcissist but it really is...amazing how you have so much confidence in your skills, your looks, anything really without second guessing yourself." He received only stunned silence from the actor as he simply gives him a blank but hidden impressed look. The purplenette then turns away and Osano hears a sniffle, "Are..are you crying?"

"N-No!" Kizano gives a dismissive wave at the false accusation, but him covering his and holding his head back and up to keep his makeup from running said otherwise. "Something just got in my eyes."

"I'm sure something did."

"Osano, you haven't said anything about me." Hanako points out. "I was just getting to that. God why can't you be patient for once?" Hanako shrugs. He couldn't help it. Once he got excited about something, all his manner of patience went out the window. "What I admire most about you is your tolerance in dealing with my bullshit. I don't think that needs much explanation, but I think you and I know that you could have dropped me as a friend a long time again. A really long, long, long time ago." Osano emphasizes on the time part, "like when we were...six or something."

"You were a jerk even in your adolescence?"

"Sunobu, I will take back every good thing I said about you in a heartbeat if you open those lipstick painted lips again."

"It's tint! Learn the difference!"

As the two started another white noise argument and while Amao was on another plane both mentally and physically, Hanako smiles at the three older teens in blissful content. He was honestly happy how this Valentine's day turned out. It was much better than what he would be doing if the other three weren't here which would be Hanako sitting in his room, stuffing his face with too many sweets to put his sugar levels and dentist through the roof, and watching some anime he picked on the roulette wheel of 'Animes I've Watched a Dozen Times Already' for the hundredth time as he waited for either his parents or Taro to come home. Which if Hanako was being real with himself, he would be alone until the next morning as his parents liked to stay in a hotel to do their thing and Taro would probably stay over Ayano's house with little to no persuasion, leaving Hanako alone again. But now...

"What I admire most…" Hanko starts, gaining their attention even the inebriated one, "...about you three is your general presence. It gives me companionship and security in the fact that...I'm not alone or have to be alone. It feels…" Hanako ponders on the next word, "...nice to have confidence in that." No one said anything at the heartfelt confession nor Hanako was expecting an answer. He definitely wasn't expecting the sudden open arms reached out to him from Amao. "Um…?" Hanako looks at Amao and back at his open arms. Thinking this was just one of his new drunk quirks until his hands opened and closed in a grabby motion. "Come on, Sweetie."

Hanako blinks as it finally clicked as to why he was making the motion. "Oh, a hug~!" The younger boy quickly makes his way on the other side of the table and gladly accepts the tight hug that smothered. "Mmmm~...Amao you're hugging me really tight"

"Oh shush you love my hugs."

"I do love your hugs." Hanako set aside his worries of suffocation and inhaled the smell of his shirt, enjoying the sweet smell that sometimes made Hanako feel like he was talking to a walking cookie. A spiked cookie at the moment. "You smell like cinnamon, sugar...and alcohol…" He didn't get a response or even a hum of acknowledgement, but he did feel the hug slightly loosen and Amao's weight relax onto him. "Amao?...Amao?"

"Amao, buddy?" Osano calls but doesn't get a response either. Hanako listens carefully and just hears soft breathing, "Osano, I think he fell asleep on me."

"For god sakes he only had…" Osano makes a mental count of the glasses of champagne Amao had drinken, "...like 6 or 7 glasses of that weak ass champagne."

"Uh, excuse me," Kizano cuts in, offended at the comment of the alcohol content of champagne being weak. "But our champagne is anything but weak."

"Then what the hell is in it? Absinthe?"

"No, why the hell would I have absinthe in the house?"

"Who the hell knows? You theater people have a different way of thinking."

"Guys," Hanako calls their attention again, "He's really heavy and it's starting to weigh on my back." The same back that hasn't fully healed from being dropped on a hardwood floor at the wrong angle.

"Fine, Baka." Osano gets up and immediately deems it as a bad idea as the room started to distort a bit, but he keeps on moving. "Get your ass up Sunobu and help me move Amao."

~~♡~~

Hanako starts to stir awake on the soft bed he was laying on, groaning at the sunlight beaming straight into his eyes. He yawns and sits up, rubbing the sleep out his eyes to see the room he was in and immediately knew it wasn't his room as it was very big and painted purple with splashes of red.

This was Kizano's room, meaning Hanako was here all day yesterday and didnt go home yesterday, meaning he spent the night. Hanako then asked himself the question, 'Does this count as a sleepover even though this wasn't planned to end as a sleepover?' which the question was shrugged off and marked as a 'yes' as a sleepover was a sleepover in Hanako's eyes no matter the situation. He rubs his hands over the red satin sheets on the soft and spacious canopy bed, but stops once he looks over on the other side of the bed and had to bite back his school girl giggles at the sight.

Truly the bed was spacious enough to the point it could not only fit Hanako, which was more than enough room as he wasn't the biggest kid, but three other patrons who looked absolutely wrecked. Especially Kizano who's previous curled purple hair was now a bird's nest and his makeup was smudged. Osano looked the same as he did anytime he was asleep except Hanako debated on whether or not to wipe the red smudge off his cheek and risk the chance of waking him up, and Amao, who looked the most semi presentable if there was the chance that someone came knocking at the door and someone had to answer, had an arm thrown over his eyes.

Hanako checks his pockets for his phone, which was thankfully not dead and snaps a few pictures of three sleeping patrons. He's gotten into the habit of taking pictures again to capture the important moments. "Oh this is totally going into the friendship scrapbook."

The ravenette saves them to one of the albums so he could print it out later at home and he goes stiff when he hears a groan and someone stirring. He freezes as it could possibly be the demon Osano, but relaxes when he hears the gentle but bone tired voice. "Hanako, Cupcake..."

"Ah! Amao, you're awake~! Good morning~!"

"Yes, yes, morning, Hanako, could you please, with a cherry on top, keep your voice down? My head is killing me." Amao cracks his eyes open and immediately closes them as he turns away from the window filter in fresh blinding sunlight. Now he knows how people feel when they say they're always 'blinded by his smile'."...I don't think that was cider you gave me yesterday, Hanako."

"You said your head hurts, maybe I can find some aspirin for you." Hanako gets off the bed and immediately starts looking for his shoes, "I can look in Kizano's bathroom."

"Third bathroom…" The very tired and scratchy voice of the actor starts he lazily waves at his bedroom door, giving unenthusiastic directions, "...third bathroom on the right, can't miss it. Um, second or third, maybe first shelf inside the mirror…" Hanako nods and scurries off on his quest to find aspirin. The room was left in morning hungover silence for a few seconds before a new voice of the last patron asks, "Who the fuck has three bathrooms?"

"I do. Now shut your trap, peasant. I can already feel another migraine coming up from your voice alone."

"Then I'll just keep talking, princess." Osano lets out a huff of air before looking at the brunet, who had gone back to covering his eyes. "So Amao, partied too hard last night?" He teased.

"We weren't supposed to be drinking, Osano…" Amao states that comes off more as a whine. "We're not even 18 yet."

"We're of legal age somewhere in the world." Osano responds in a nonchalant manner.

"What am I going to tell my parents? Oh god my mom will have a heart attack!"

"For christ sake, Amao!" Osano snaps and props himself up by his elbows, "You drank some champagne--well you actually had like 7 glasses--but you drank a little alcohol. Every kid has drank some form of liquor by our age, hell even Hanako had something. You're making it sound like you did a few lines of cocaine and participated in an orgy or something." Osano went silent for a moment before laying back down as the room started to spin again, "Besides, what your parents don't know, wont hurt them."

"They will ask where I was all night." Amao uncovers his eyes and stares out the window as the events of the night before started coming in like slow flood. Everything stopped after he fell asleep at some point and woke up in Kizano's bed the next, but he does--strangely--vividly remember their little admire game. "So Osano," he looked over his shoulder at the orange haired boy, "you like my cooking?"

It was his turn to tease his friend who turned a bit red. "Baka, you actually remember that?" Osano hopes for a 'no' but gets a nod saying 'yes'. "Yeah...I like your cooking."

"And Hanako thinks I have a nice smile?"

"Everyone thinks you have a nice smile."

"Even you?"

"....yes, I do think you have a nice smile."

"Aww," Amao fully turns over at that, making Osnao groan at the action. "That's so sweet."

"Osano, Amao, Darlings," Kizano finally speaks again as he was quiet through the entire conversation. "If this little scene of romanticism goes any further, I will suggest you take it to the guest room three rooms down as I don't want to hear or see anything that might follow."

Osano turns red at the implication and Amao simply laughs. "Shut up, Sunobu! You always have to make things weird or...or sexual then what they need to be."

The moment of silence falls over them again as they wait for Hanako's return with the sweet release of pain called aspirin, but they had a feeling that he probably got lost and will be waiting for a while for his return. Kizano, finding that he didn't like the silence that much, starts up conversation again with an opening but risky statement. "You know, Darling, you have a nice smile as well. You look more pleasing to the eye when you do smile."

"Gee thanks," Osano takes the backhanded compliment with great sarcasm in his voice, but a small smile makes a way on his face as the first part of it was semi-genuine, but flattering. "I'll keep that in mind next time."

"Hey, Osano did you know you have a red smudge on your cheek? The right side." Amao made the observation and a questioning look crosses Osano's face as he wipes his cheek and found red on his fingers. Right off the bat it wasn't blood but Osano wished it was as he immediately knew where it came from and he wanted to crawl into a hole at the answer. "Kizano…"

"....Yes?" He answers a bit hesitant as it was rare that Osano called him by his first name.

"Please, please...don't tell me you fucking kissed me...with your bright ass lipstick?"

"It's...tint and you should be grateful!"


	7. Midnight Cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanako really wished he finished reading The Crucible when he had the chance because who knew talking to the Basus would get you labeled as a demon.

The first thing Osano immediately noticed when he was rudely awakened, once again by a system so repetitive that he should be used to it,was how bright it was in his room. Not the blasting noise of some anime he can't even be bothered to decipher at the moment. Not Hanako playing cards on his bed instead of using the perfectly good desk across the room (And Hanako better not give him some bullshit excuse of how he couldn't use it because he saw his homework laying perfectly still on the desk, currently not being done.) It was how blindly bright his room was in the morning. All the curtains were drawn wide open, letting in the full effects of the sun's morning rays. The light poured in from the hallways and seeped into the room through the cracked bedroom door. And the useless presence of his bedroom light being on. It was an absolute circus of sunshiney goodness assaulting Osano's eyes. Couldn't he just have one day, one hour or something, that could provide total comforting darkness.

Hanako takes notice of his friend's awakening, stopping in the middle of playing solitaire. "Good morning, Osa--" a hand is immediately slapped over his mouth. 

"No." Osano firmly states as he could already feel a greeting too cheerful to his liking coming up. He did not have enough energy to deal with it right now nor ever. He swings his legs out the bed, completely ignoring the fact he knocked over the cards and almost kicking Hanako in the face--which he rightfully deserves for waking him up so early once again--and sits hunched over, letting out a sound that sounded like a dying whale before officially dragging himself out of bed. Another day, another non existent yen. "Where's your study buddy? You and him are usually huddled at my desk like it's a dumpster fire."

"Oh, Amao got a call from one of his members saying there was something wrong with the cooking club's kitchen. He went to school extra early to check it out. So it will just be the three of us walking to school today~!" 

"Hanako, I know you're absolutely terrible at math, but from what I see, it looks like it's only going to be two of us." Just like old times, which was only about three weeks ago. Osano gets to the bathroom and upon opening the door, immediately reels back at the sudden blast of artificial light. Great, just what he needed, more light in the morning. Once his eyes adjust to the light and the room and everything in it, he groans in distaste at the sight. "No, hell no. Get out." 

Kizano looks away from the mirror and stops in the middle of fixing and brushing his hair. "Um, excuse me. I'm doing something here, peasant." 

"Yeah, in MY bathroom. You're fixing YOUR hair in MY house in MY bathroom, with MY brush--" He points at the obviously orange hairbrush in hand. "See how many things that are mine outweigh what belongs to you?" The mini rant seemed to do little as the purple-haired boy stopped listening half way and went back to brushing his hair like a fair maiden in waiting. Osano continues to glare for a moment before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Fuck it. I'm too tired for this." He walks in further and closes the door, walking over to the shower. "Why don't you just take my room and my bed too while you're at it? Hell, I'll throw in my soul for a discount." 

"Mm, your bed is too small, Darling. Besides, it looks like it provides poor back support in the night. Doesn't it?" Kizano doesn't get a response but he hears the rustling of fabric. He turns to see Osano taking off his shirt, immediately shrieking at the sight. "W-What are you doing?!" 

"About to climb Mount Fuji. What does it look l'm doing?" Osano turns the knob of the shower, letting the water run and rain down as he moves to take off his pants. "I mean, you wanted to stay in here, so..." 

"To brush my hair, you fool! Not to…! Not to…!" Kizano sputters, his cheeks growing redder by the second as Osano takes off his pants and goes to his boxers with no sign of stopping for Kianoz's sanity. "Ugh!" He grabs the hairbrush and storms out the bathroom. "You're disgustingly crude, Najimi!" Osano laughs at the other's embarrassment. It makes him wonder how Kizano fairs in the locker room during PE.

~~♡~~

"I still can't believe you actually did that." Kizano groans as he holds his head in his palms. Osano rolls his eyes, not fully awake and still not prepared to deal with morning drama. "Oh get over it, drama queen. You didn't even see anything that explicit." 

"I can't! You were just so nonchalant about getting undressed in front of me." 

"Who's getting undressed in front of who?" Amao makes his first official appearance of the day. He only walked over to the fountain and was already confused. "Osano got undressed in front of Kizano without a second thought." Hanako stuffs his mouth full with his breakfast. Amao blinks and looks between the two. "What? Why?" He misses one day of walking with them and this is what happens. 

"I needed to take a shower and he wouldn't get out of the bathroom, MY bathroom!"

"Because I was fixing my hair!" 

"With MY hairbrush!" 

"Oh get over it, peasant!" 

"There's like two other mirrors in my house, one by the door and one in my room, why didn't you use those?!" 

"Uhhh, everyone knows the bathroom has the best lighting! Your room was too dark and gloomy." 

Oh did Osano wish his room was pitch black dark in the morning. "I'm. sleeping. Of course it's going to be dark and gloomy dipshit."

Amao sticks his hands into the pocket of his apron, "Well...this is something I can add to my journal for today." 

"Yeah! You can start it off by writing 'Osano gave Kizano a strip tease~!'". Hanako makes an arch motion in the air as he shouts the title, right at the exact moment Shiromo was walking by, raising a brow. "Ooh~." 

Osano turns red as he holds back the breath to tell the treasurer to shut up. "I-It wasn't a strip tease! God, why do you always say things out of context outloud, baka?!" Hanako nervously chuckles and moves himself and his breakfast out of potential choking distance. Anything within Osano's arms reach was never safe. While he was moving, something shiny from the hedges caught his eyes. Hanako blinks in curiosity and sets his food down--the absolute horror--and went over to find said object. 

"Amao, darling, why did you leave me alone to fend for myself this morning? My sanity and my eyes are forever scarred by this beast." Osano glares at Kizano. 

"Oh I'm sorry, Kizano, but there was a slight emergency in the cooking club room. During the night, a major spill leaked from the fridge and caused a huge mess." Amao peels off the yellow rubber gloves and stuffs them in his pocket to dispose later. 

"*cough*Housewife*cough*"

"Quiet, Pumpkin. The floor and everything is fine, but the smell still lingers. We opened a few windows and hope the smell will be out by lunch."

"What spilled?" Kizano questions out of curiosity. 

"A giant bottle of 8 month expired vegetable juice." Amao cringes, "I don't know why that bottle was still in the fridge long after its expiration date, as we clean out our fridge regularly, but I have an idea on who left it there." He really had to have a talk with Kenko about these things. "Ow, ow, ow!" The three look over at the cries of pain and see Hanako currently pushing his upper half around in the hedges. He looked like a squirrel at the moment. A very big and less graceful squirrel. "Hanako, what are you doing?" 

"Nothing, I just thought I--Ah! I found it!" Hanako pulls himself out the hedges, covered in leaves and small branches. He brushes and picks them off before walking over and showing what he found. "I saw something shiny~!" In the palm of his hand was a gold ring with three small pink gems in the center. 

"Oh how wonderful, you found one of Basu's faux rings." Kizano points out. "Faux?" Hanako looks at the ring in confusion, "How can you tell it's fake?" Osano asks. 

"Because I have an eye for the finer things in life, darling. The Basus are kinda Musumo and his little following, any jewelry they wear isn't real, but the only difference--I'll give the Basus some credit--is the Basus wear stuff that can easily trick someone while Musumo and his friends wear stuff so fake you can see it from Rome." Kizano finishes his explanation and putting Musumo's whole fashion sense on display, that he may or may not have said out of personal distaste for them.

"You know some people think your velvet cape is fake." Osano's blunt accusation makes Kizano dramatically gasp in disbelief. "It's not that big of a--" Osano sees it pointless as he saw Kizano stand up. Here he goes. "Whose spreading such lies?! My cape is most certainly not fake! I'll have you, it's made of the finest and smoothest--" He flips the cape in Osano's face ("I swear to god") "'--velvet out there! It's as real as you're a ginger and your short temper!"

"Who has a short temper?! I don't have-" 

Hanako and Amao drown out the bickering two as Hanako asks the next question. "If it belongs to the Basu brothers, I can return this to them before class starts or maybe lunch. Do you know where they usually are?" 

"Well," Amao ponders, "When some of the members do their rounds up on the roof, they say they see the Basu brothers on the roof near the ledge." 

"Great~!" Hanako stores the ring in his pocket, "I'll give it to them now--" 

Riiiiiing 

"--Lunch! I'll give it to them at lunch!" Hanako would give it to them during homeroom, but he didn't know their homeroom number. Actually, Hanako doesn't even remember his homeroom half the time when someone asks him for it. It's on the same level as someone going to the gas station and repeating the number of the gas pump they're at in their head, but once they get to the register, that number is gone like the wind. 

~~♡~~ 

As soon as the bell for lunch rang, Hanako was out of the classroom like a speeding bullet. "Wait till I dismiss you next time, Yamada!" His teacher calls, "Sorry sensei!" 

Hanako was very eager to give the ring back to the Basus, but he was also eager to make it back to his locker as quickly as possible. His mom made him this delicious bento that, unlike other bentos, would still be warm by the time lunch came. Except, you had to eat it within that time frame, any longer and the bento would be cold and not as tasty. From his homeroom to his locker, he didn't have to worry about it getting ice cold, but throw in the extra time and distance from his homeroom to the roof and back down again and you have Hanako dashing so fast through the halls it would put Speed Racer last in a race.

Unfortunately, not everyone understood his need for speed. He was put to a halting stop by the enforcer prowling the halls, who nicely and calmly reprimanded him. "Oi! Stop running in fucking halls!" 

"Sorry!" Hanako squeaks outs and falls into speeding walking, feeling the one eye burning into his skull. Once he rounded the corner and was out of sight, Hanako was back to sprinting. But, fate seemed to hate him today, he was put to a halting stop by another barrier and that person was, unfortunately, Musumo. The underclassman crashed into him and luckily didn't knock him over (Hanako will later learn that it would've been better if he had) but it did cause Musumo to drop his phone. "My phone!" He groans before glaring at Hanako, "Are you blind or something?! Like, I'm walking here!" 

"I'm sorry, Ronshaku‐-" 

"Sorry isn't going to get my phone on the floor!" 

Hanako looks between Musumo and the phone on the ground. He quickly picks it up and shoves it into the waiting hand. "Here you go! I'm sorry again, Ronshaku‐san, but I'm in a rush!" Before Musumo could get another word in, Hanako was off again through the halls. 

Now, Hanako was sure he was back on track. He was sure he was going to make it to the roof and down again with time to spare, but he encountered another and hopefully his final barrier. The two of them collide and knock each other to the floor, making them both drop their things. This was totally not Hanako's day and it was only Monday. Monday for god's sake. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see where I was going. Are you alright?" Hanako starts looking around and gathering the loose pieces of paper that fell from the others hands. 

"I-I'm fine." The other responds in a shy and slight meek voice. Hanako looks and takes in the boy's overall dark appearance with the pitch dark blue messy hair and dark rings lined under dark purple eyes. What really caught Hanako's eye, and it wasn't the choker, was the red armband since it was the only pop of color on him. Hanako had a peculiar sense of fashion--enough to last four lifetimes--but something about Oko Ruto's appearance reminded him of that one american band. What was their name? My Toxic Friendship? No, that would be too close to home for some people. My Lethal Affair? That's actually a good name but that wasn't it either. Eh, it'll come to Hanako later like everything else in life. 

Hanako snaps out of his character profile and spots the red book that was across the floor. He retrieves it and dusts off the dirt, running a finger over the design on the cover before handing it off to Oko with a smile. "Here you go." 

Oko looks at the book being handed back to him and his fingerless gloves hands slowly reach out and gently take it back, hugging it to his chest as if it was a sacred treasure. "T-thank you." Both of them stand up and Hanako notes how much taller Oko was than him despite being hunched over slightly. Why was he so surprised? Almost everyone towered over him, even the girls. "My pleasure~! Hey, I don't think we properly met. I'm--

"I-I'm sorry, but I must be somewhere else at the moment." 

"Oh," That dampers Hanako a bit, "Well I'll--" Oko doesn't wait for him to finish and practically runs off. ("Ruto! I swear to whatever god you worship after school if you don't stop running-!" "S-sorry!") "....see you around." With that brusque departure, someone else might've thought Oko was being rude, but anyone who knew Oko's behavior knew that he was very shy and didn't even have a B- in social interactions. Hanako feels inside his pocket and thumbs the small ring, suddenly remembering why he was in a rush. "My bento!" 

With no more human speed bumps stopping him, Hanako finally makes it to the roof and scans the area to find the pair of siblings, mainly by Inkyo's hair. Seriously, Hanako thinks he only knows who Inkyo Basu is by his bright pink hair and those fuzzy black scrunchies you find hanging from a car's mirror along with a pair of fuzzy dice. He spots the heads of purple and bright pink near the ledge. "Basu-senpais!" 

He successfully earns their attention and makes his way over to them, suddenly finding the words stuck in his throat as he comes face to face with them. This was the first time he was having an actual conversation with them, which shouldn't be weird as he had multiple first time conversations with other students, but he found himself speechless as his onyx eyes met sea blue and ember yellow that seemed to pull you deeper into their gaze.

"...amda-kun. Yamada-kun." One of them, Sakyo, cooes. 

"Hu-Huh?!" Hanako shakes his head out of his daze, "I'm sorry! What did you ask?" 

"We asked, what do you need from us?" Inkyo softly repeats. "Right! I, um, wanted to u-um…" Hanako felt so disorganized right now, but he managed to locate and present the ring. "I found this in the hedges this morning and wanted to return it." 

"Ah you found my ring!" Sakyo takes it and slips it back on, genuinely relieved at its return. "I was wondering where this went, but I would've never guessed the courtyard's hedges. Thank you Hanako."

Hanako smiles, "It was my pleasure." "Hey, brother," An arm, Inkyo's, slithers around his small shoulder and pulls him into his chest like a penguin would do with its baby. "Would you say a noble act deserves some type of reward~?" Hanako blinks, what was going on? 

"Yes, I would say so, brother." Sakyo catches Hanako's chin between his thumb and pointer finger, gently lifting it to meet his eyes. "What do you suppose he would want~?" 

Hanako was feeling a lot of emotions right now that was overloading his brain. The only other time he felt like this was chemistry. "U-u-uhm nothing, Basu-senpais. I was s-simply doing the right thing and it was m-my pleasure." 

"His pleasure? Ah, brother, he's more humble and noble than I expected~." Both of them laugh at the black haired boy's flustered state. Hanako now knows how Osano feels every time he makes their group seem more scandalous than what it truly is. "Something you must know, Hanako, is that everyone wants something. Even if they don't want nothing~." Sakyo pokes his nose, "Besides, we would feel guilty for not repaying you for such a big favor. I mean, Inkyo would be stricken with guilt sickness." Hanako shivers as he feels the other's finger stroke the side of his neck.

"W-well….when you put it that way…" Hanako mumbles, not wanting to be the main cause of the Basu brothers guilt, "...um...May I have a...raincheck?" 

"A raincheck?" Both of them question in unison. 

"Yes a raincheeecck…" Hanako's brain short circuits as Inkyo places his chin on his shoulder and sighs, "A raincheck for little Hanako? Is that fair, brother~?" 

Sakyo playfully ponders, "It seems fair enough. Okay, Hanako, you've earned yourself a raincheck~." Another small poke to his nose is given and Hanako is finally released. Hanako manages to give a semi-functional goodbye before making his way back downstairs, despite the jelly feeling in his legs. What did he just experience? Did they do that to everyone or was Hanako an exception? Were they always like or was that overactive imagination kicking in? He'll have to discuss this with the others once he gets his lunch. 

That task was thrown away by fate as he was suddenly grabbed and pushed against the wall, hands tightly holding his forearms and keeping him in place. Hanako looks at the hands and blinks seeing fingerless gloves with spider webs. He looks at the culprit completely baffled. "Ru-Ruto-senpai? What are you--?" 

"Y-You've been conversing with demons." 

There was a moment of silence as Hanako took a minute to digest the vague but still frightening statement. "...Huh?" 

"I-I said, y-you've been conversing with demons." 

"Demons? No I haven't." 

"Y-Yes you were! Just a few minutes ago you were talking to them. Y-you even gave something back to them." 

"Oh...Oh! you're talking about the Basu brothers. Ruto-senpai, they're not demons." Hanako laughs at the accusation. Sure they might be a bit too touchy feely and made Hanwko a bit weak in the knees, but they weren't demons.

"T-that's what they want you to think." Oko lens in more and continues to loom over Hanako like a dark cloud, making Hanako slide down the wall a bit. "Y-you seemed very...close with them. T-Tell me, do they have you under some sort of spell?" 

"No spell." 

"A h-hex?" 

"No." 

"M-mind control, seduction mist?" 

Hanako sputters at the last suggestion, "N-no! Ruto-senpai, this is--'' At that exact moment, and exactly at the wrong time, the name of the band Hanako was trying to remember came to him. And his brain knew he would forget it if he didn't project it right now. "--My Chemical Romance!" Hanako blurts out without a second thought. 

"..." 

"..." 

"..." 

"...I didn't mean to blurt that out." 

"S-so you are in cahoots with them. Not only talking, but romantically." Oko ponders this new info for a moment before looking at Hanako with heavy scrutiny. "M-Maybe you're a paranormal being as well and that's why they so cuddly with you."

Is he accusing him of being a demon? Hanako couldn't be a demon. He's been told he's too cute to be evil. "Ruto-senpai, I'm not a demon. I-I'm actually an angel as some people would describe me." 

Oko doesn't respond immediately and instead leans away from him, skepticism still running high. "...P-Perhaps. But that could be a facade. Y-You'll have to prove your innocence."

"How will I do that?" Hanako hoped it wouldn't be like those methods people used in the old ages to prove a person's innocence. I mean, Hanako knew he was a virgin, no doubt, but-- 

"A series of trials. B-but minaly, you're going to help me prove that the Basu brothers are supernatural beings threatening to take over the world."

"...."

"...."

"...really?" Even for Hanako that was kinda bananas. 

"W-well," Oko shyly rubs the back of his neck. That statement always sounded better in his head."N-not to the 'take over the world' extreme but they're still a threat to humanity. A-at minimum the school--" 

"Ca-can I go back to lunch please?!" Hanako practically pleads. Oko releases his arms and steps away, "O-Of course." Hanako nods and is about to run away when Oko grabs his wrist, "B-but I'm watching you Hanako Yamada." The wrist is freed and Oko disappears around a corner and back into the shadows from once he came, which was odd since the school was bright enough to be Zeus' temple. 

By the time Hanako retrieved his lunch from his locker, it was cold and beyond the point of tasting moderately good, but it was fine. He was sure he lost his appetite ages ago.

~~♡~~ 

The quad ("The foursome--" "No.") decided to go over to Osano's house, earning much protest from the primary resident as his home was always the meeting spot, but it provided some strange form of comfort. Hanako, however, was not feeling the comfort he so desperately needed now. He got more love and care from the floor he was currently laying face down on, letting his groans be muffled into the wood.

"Hanako, Oko is just having some fun with you." Amao tries to soothe his friend. Hanako rolls onto his back, "Amao, he wasn't doing this for fun. He was for real! I could see it in his eyes!" He points to his own eyes. Osano didn't even look from his homework, "Hanako, you can't even find your phone when it's right in your hand. How can you see someone's true intentions in sleep deprived eyes?" 

Hanako wails and rolls himself across the floor, stopping once his back hit Kizano's shins. He looks up at the purple haired boy and tugs his pants. "Kizzzz, you're more of that 'eyes are the windows to the soul' and poetry type. You get it, right?" 

"Yes darling…" 

"Are you even listening?!" Hanako sits up and drapes himself across Kizano's knee, a look of complete desperation in his eyes. "I could die from some sort of goat, chicken, human sacrifice thing performed by the Occult club if I'm guilty!" 

"Of course …" 

"What are you reading?!" 

"Literature." Kizano closes the book and sets it aside, resting his hands on top of the other's. "Hanako, as creepy, odd and stalkerish Oko may be, trust me I know how you feel when it comes to being accused of being a demon. He thought I was a banshee when I screamed so loud I broke a lightbulb." 

"How fitting." 

"Shut up, carrot top. What I'm trying to say is, despite all the whole shy but tough guy 'you better count your days' ghostbuster act, Oko is completely harmless. The boy wouldn't even hurt a fly and he certainly wouldn't sacrifice you to some supernatural god if you're found guilty. The worst he could do is...Oh I don't know, throw a bag over your head, drag you to the Occult room, put you in the middle of the circle and pray holy water on you while telling you to repent." 

That didn't ease Hanako's worries at all. "He said he's going to be watching me." 

"He's watched almost everyone under suspicion at least once, Hanako. He stalked me for a good three days all because he liked my cookies and was too shy to ask for some more." 

"He watched me for a good 4 days because I resembled some creature in his book until Rai stalked him back." Osano is still trying to figure out where his friend found the time to do that. 

"And I was stalked for a good week. I even saw him writing down some notes on me." Kizano hoped they were good notes. 

Those words were kinda comforting, the empathy in the fact that they knew what Hanako was going through, but that didn't make Hanako any less nervous. None of them had to prove their innocence in some trial or whatever. Oko just eventually left them alone, but it seemed like Hanako wasn't going to get that luxury. "Ahhhh! Why did I have to return that ring back to the Basu brothers?!" Hanako rolls off Kizano and rolls across the floor and right into the thick comforter that was spread out on the floor, rolling himself up into a burrito and crying about his inevitable doom. Amao gives a few comforting pats to the bundle. 

"What are you reading? That's not a book we're reading for class." Osano looks at the face down book next to Kizano. 

"I know. I'm doing some free reading." Kizano picks up the book and reads the title, chuckling a bit. "How fitting." 

"How is it fitting?" Amao asks and Kizano shows him the book. The brunet reads the title, "The Crucible?" Osano laughs and Amao gives him a look as all three of them knew what the book was about. "Osano, it's not funny." "Of course not, It's hilarious! I mean, Hanako is basically in the middle of a witch hunt right now."

Hanako cries in the comforter resembled a hunchback whale at hearing those words. 

~~♡~~

The next day in the courtyard didn't feel as relaxed as yesterday, for Hanako that is. He was almost stiff as a board, sitting straight up and eating his breakfast with a shaky hand. It was hard to relax when you had someone staring burning daggers in your entire being. He tugs Kizano's red cape. "Kizzzz…"Kizano looks down, "Yes?" 

"I-I don't want to make it obvious by doing this, but can you see if Ruto-senpai is nearby?" He shyly asks. Kizano would say Hanako was overreacting, but this was the Occult club leader they were talking about. A man infamous for stalking his peers. He looks around and unsurprisingly finds Oko on the farside of the courtyard, peeking out from behind a hedge. "Yes, he's taken cover behind the bushes today." Kizano tilts his head, giving a silent call 'I can see you' to Oko, who hides further behind the leaves. "He should just take a picture of you, they do last longer. Then again," Kizano laughs and flips his curl behind his shoulder, "He probably wouldn't get my good side." 

"You don't have a good side. Every angle of you screams 'please punch me' more than the last spot." 

"Oh? Then what about your face? That just screams pure 'I act like an ass to hide that I'm a pure bottom?'" 

Osano turns cherry red at the accusation and it didn't help that, again, Shiromo walks past on his rounds. "Interesting ~." 

_ 'Don't cuss out the student council, Don't cuss out the student council.'  _ Osano mentally tells himself. He couldn't cuss them out, but it was fair game on Kizano. "You take that back, Sunobu! I swear to god--!"

It honestly amazed Amao how quick the tides of Kizano and Osano's conversations could change. It was truly like being out at sea: one moment the waters are calm and the next, boom! You're in the middle of a typhoon. "Eh?" Amao jumps a bit at the assaulting projectile that softly tapped the side of his head, fluttering then into his lap to reveal a simple and small airplane made out of purple paper. "How cute." He picks it up and immediately looks in the direction of the hedge hiding the occult club leader. 

"What's cute?" Osano asks and sees the little plane in his hand. "What the--" 

"Oko sent it, I recognize the paper. You know, he has the nicest aesthetically pleasing stationary, but his handwriting is a bit on the chicken scratch side." The brunet gains the other's attention and holds up the plane then points to himself. Oko shakes his head and points more to the person next to him. Oko came to realize this was kinda bad communication as the person next to Amao was Osano. 

After Amao points to Osano and receives another shake of the head. Oko draws the shape of a heart with his fingers, points to his hair, then back at the group. Heart, hair, person next to him? Amao 'ohs' as he finally realizes who the plane is for. "Hanako, this is for you sugar." Hanako snaps out of lazily eating his breakfast and takes the paper plane. "What is it?" He unfolds the paper and is met with a vague message written in white ink. 

_ Come to the occult room at lunchroom for your test, Demon.  _

_ Be there or be squared. _

"Be there or be squared?" Amao questions out loud. 

"What the hell are we still in, primary school?" Osano critzies. 

Oko, hearing this particular line and comment very well, resisted the urge to stuff himself fully into the hedge and just decay. He knew he shouldn't have let Daku write that note just for the sake of him having better legible handwriting. 

~~♡~~ 

Hanako never thought in his lifetime would he come to dread lunchtime like right now. Lunchtime was his favorite class of the day, he could never fail it unless he forgets his lunch at home, which never happens. But it felt like another cinder block was placed on his back each step he took towards the occult room. Once he arrived and stood in front of its door, he wasn't even given a second to digest his possible doom when the door slides open, grabs him by the collar and pulls him inside the dark room. The door slamming close with a loud 'bang'. 

Aoi sees this kidnapping as he was making his rounds and tched at the sight before continuing on with his duties. It was the occult club. They were weird. That's none of his business. 

It took Hanako a second to adjust to the dark room with only dim lighting from the candles while he heard whispers from the other members of the club dressed in their dark robes. 

"Is this him?" 

"This is the demon who's been conversing with the Basus." 

"He's the one that keeps falling asleep during my math class." 

"R-Ruto-senpai, are you sure this is a test? This feels like you're going to harvest my organs and give them to some fire god! Are you going to harvest my organs and give them to some fire god?! If you are, I need an adult, like my mom or Osano, or Amao, or Kizano! They're more responsible than I am and wiser about these things!" The club members watch as the underclassman becomes a melting puddle of nervous rambles as he sinks to the floor and curls up like a baby. The others look to their leader, silently questioning the status of Hanako. Chojo even points at Hanako and silently asks 'are you sure this is a demon?'

"H-Hanako-Are you about to cry?" Oko starts to panic as he sees the boy as on the brink of tears. "P-please don't cry, I don't know how to handle that. T-this is a simple test by fire--" 

"You're going to burn me?!" 

"N-No! No one's going to brun you. I-it's just…you throw something into the fire and it shows your true colors." Oko moves to the small metal bowl in the center of the circle and takes a small blowtorch to light the small bundles of paper inside. Hanako sits up and looks at the growing flames, wiping the tears from his eyes. "What am I throwing in?" 

Kokuma brings over a velvet drawstring bag and Hanako could hear rattling inside as she shook it before holding it out to him. "Pick a bottle from the bag. Don't look." Hanako looks at the bag with caution and slowly puts his hand inside, feeling around before taking one out. The bottle was made of hard plastic and looked like one of those bottles you fill with potions and filled with a white powder. Hanako would honestly write it off as flour. 

Hanamo passes it off to Oko's waiting hand and he pops the cap, pouring the white powder into the flames. Even though the matter at hand was serious, the simple display of the ordinary orange flames turning a brilliant green amazed Hanako like a small child. How did they do that? Is this magic? Unfortunately, the rest of the members didn't have the same reaction as him. Instead, they start whispering amongst themselves, confusing Hanako until Shin shouts, "He's a demon!" 

"W-What?! No! I-I'm not a demon!" 

"But the flames have spoken!" Shin argues.

"Well the flames are being Pinocchio!" Hanako argues back and looks at Oko for some help as he was the leader, "W-what was the point of this test?!" 

"W-well, the test by flames determines your innocence by the color of the flames. W-which--" Oko grabs a bottle that resembles a spray bottle with an exaggerated nib (instead of a fire extinguisher which would be very appropriate at the moment) letting out a jet beam of white foam, immediately putting out the fire in the bowl. He knew this would be a great investment from QVC. "--You failed." 

"You can go to Taturo and he can forgive your sins." Daku suggests. "Great! Where is he?" 

"Student Council room." Everyone responds and that immediately crushed Hanakoa hopes of getting his name cleared. He tried to think of something else, "T-then can I retake the test?" 

Everyone looks at him as if he grew two heads. "You want to retake the test?" Supana questions and peaked Oko's interest. "Yes! Like how Rana-sensei lets us have a retake on a test we did bad on." Now that Hanako said that out loud, he realizes he may have dug himself a deeper grave. He's going to fluke this retake just like the first time, he might even get a result worse than the first. Like the time he got a 30 on his english test, retook it, and got a 10 on the second try. (How did the score get lower? He'll never know.)

"F-fine. You can retake it on Friday." Hanako almost felt like crying rivers when he heard those life saving words that have shined a light in his dark worlds so many times. "A-after...you help me reveal the true identities of your supernatural companions. O-only then will the flames possibly change and prove your innocence." 

~~♡~~

Hanako has had his fair share of  stalking observing people for various reasons, mostly to prove his theories about them. But those sessions weren't as...boring and quiet like this. Hanako gently leans onto Oko's back with as little weight as possible, careful not to push them out and blow their cover from behind the wall. "Ruto-senpai?" 

"Y-yes?" 

"What are we doing?" 

"O-observing the activities and behaviors of supernatural beings." 

"...Are we though? It feels more like we're, as Osano would say, stalking the Basu brothers. Why are we stalking them?" 

"I-it's not stalking, it's observing and gathering evidence because they're supernatural beings." Oko rebuttals and looks back at his companion, who still had a look of confusion. "I-Inkyo is a vampire while Sakyo is an incubus, both are very dangerous towards humans." 

"A vampire and an incubus?" Hanako muses, "Oh I know those things. Vampires are a whole genre on their own in anime and I know incubi and succubi from...other genres." Hanako didn't want to get into that and he wouldn't subject Oko to that torture...yet. "What makes you think the Basu brothers are those things?"

For the first time since they got on the roof, Oko fully pulls away from his Basu watching and turns around. "T-this told me." He brings out a very simple pocket watch and hands it to Hanako. "A clock?" He opens it to find that neither of the arms were moving, "A..broken clock?" How can this have possibly told Oko that the Basu brothers were supernatural beings?

"I-it's not just a clock, nor is it broken. It's a clock that can detect things and people of the paranormal. M-my grandma gave it to me when I was younger and the first day I brought it to school, it pointed right at the Basu brothers on the 12. I checked it again and again and it pointed back to them everytime." And sometimes the third floor girl's bathroom, but that's another issue on its own. The hands of the clock start spinning around until they land on the 1, pointing straight at Hanako. "See? You're a demon." Oko then promptly returns to Basu watching. 

"But that's not enough proof, Ruto-senpai." 

"I-I know, that's why I'm gathering evidence now, to prove my claim." 

Hanako bites his bottom lip as he was hesitant to give the next suggestion that could speed this along. "How about you just ask the Basu brothers if they're a vampire and incubus?" 

Oko almost snapped his neck turning around, as if Hanako just aired the dirtiest scandal of all time. "No! I can't just...a-ask them. Y-you can't just ask them that!" 

"Why not?" 

"B-because they liiiiieee, Hanako, t-they're going to lie and deny their true identities." He squints his dark purple eyes in scrutiny at Hanako, "Just like you are." 

The black haired boy pouts and his cheeks turn pink, "I'm not lying! I'm not a demon!" 

"The flames say otherwise." 

"The flames are Pinocchio!" 

~~♡~~

"Sooooo," Amao starts as he sits up from wiping the floors, "How was your day with Oko?" The question created an immediate response of Hanako moaning and curling into himself on the floor like a fetus. ("What the hell, Baka?! Get off the floor and clean!") "I feel like I was being judged by every move I made and if it was wrong in the slightest they would burn me for it. I felt like I was on trial for something I didn't even do!" 

"Just like the people in the Crucible or the Salem witch trials." Kizano states, humming at the sight of another broken nail. 

"Or like the people in the justice system." Amao adds. 

"Or the people that are taken before the student council." Osana tags on as he throws a rag at Hanako to motivate him in getting up and pulling his weight in classroom clean up. None of these add ons made Hanako feel any better because people usually died when encountering those three upper forces. Well, maybe not the student council one, but after talking with them you wish you just died instead. 

"He had us watch the Basus all during lunch time--I didn't even get to eat my lunch--and practically looked at every move they made with a grain of salt. Sakyo likes red? Suspicious. Inkyo says his teeth hurt? Suspicious. Sakyo chose the 1 percent milk nobody touches in the cafeteria? Suspicious. Inkyo likes the live action adaptation of shows instead of the manga or anime? Suspic--No, I actually agree with that one--but that's not the point!" Hanako sits up and pulls the rag off his head, looking at it sadly, "I don't even get to eat my lunch today, man. I could die." 

Osano sighs, "Baka, you can't die from missing one meal." The scrubbing of the floor ceased as Amao slowly turned to look at Osano, "Excuse you, Pumpkin? I'll have you know eating 3 three square meals a day is very important in sustaining good health--" "Here we go again."

"Don't you 'here we go again' with me! Hanako is a growing boy and needs all his nutrients!" 

"What are you, his mother?!" 

Kiznao manages to slip out of the classroom unnoticed by the others and makes his way to the Occult club room. Once he arrives, he slides the door open with a dramatic flair. The sudden burst of light made the inhabitant inside hiss a bit. "Oko Ruto, dweller of the dark, I've come to talk!" 

"S-Sunobu-san?" Oko was very surprised, and kinda scared, by this sudden visit. And he had to come right when the others were helping around school. "W-what brings you here?" 

"A certain student. Hanako Yamada, the babe you accused of being a demon." Kizano walks into the room, closing the door and looks around the decor. It kinda reminded of the Drama room; dark, dreary…'we'll sacrifice you to the devil if you fail' vibe. "If you're going to classify him as a supernatural being, he's more of an angel."

"I-if he was an angel then the flame would've been blue, b-but the flames were green, making him a demon." Oko stands up from wiping the floor, "H-he's also been seen conversing with other supernatural beings, not including you, Odayaka, or Najimi. T-the accusation has some standing." 

"On whose authority, satan himself?" Kizano chuckles, "Are you and your members Abigail and her friends, accusing people of witchcraft based on superstition?" Oko mind blanked for a moment, was that supposed to be an insult? Or maybe this was another reference that flew over his head. "I-I don't know who you're talking about and you're not so innocent yourself, Sunobu-san. B-being a banshee and all." 

"A banshee? Ha! Do I honestly look like the type of person to be screaming at people all day?"

"Yes." Oko answers without a second to spare and no room for subtlety. Kizano blinks, taken back by the bluntness. "I...I wasn't expecting that, but...then again I've been called worse by Osano." He sighs and steps closer to Oko, who moves back. Why did he do that? Kizano wasn't going to hit him. Despite Kizano yelling till the cows came home on some occasions, he wasn't a physically violent person. "Ruto-san, I'm not a banshee and Hanako is not a demon." 

"P-prove it then." Oko produces the velvet bag and holds it out for Kizano. "Y-your innocence at least. H-Hanako will have another chance later." Kizano was confused on how this could prove he was a banshee or not, but decides to humor the harmless and childish game by picking a bottle from the bag. He hands it to Oko, who already lit the small pit of paper, and he dumps the contents onto the flames. The flames don't turn a bright green, a brilliant red, or even a calming blue like Oko expected. They instead turned white and that shook him to the core. "You're...not a banshee?" 

"Yeesss, that's what I've been trying to tell you." Kizano scoffs at his plea finally getting through. "Honestly, if all it took was a little campfire trick light show to prove I wasn't a banshee, I would've come here ages ago, Darling." 

Oko feels his cheeks warm as he realizes how much of an idiot he probably looked like right now. "I-I'm sorry about the accusation, S-Sunobu-san." The other looks at him for a moment before shrugging and throwing the cape over his shoulder, "Hm, you're only human, Darling. You know who else is human?" 

"N-no--"

"Hanako Yamada~! Who was simply being nice towards the Basus and returning their lost property. That's all. Not because he's a demon" Even though he has his moments, but Kizano won't get into that. 

Oko considers his peer's words, he considers the possibility that Hanako might not be a demon and was just being nice to the Basus because he's a nice person, but Oko couldn't be absolutely sure of that. His grandmother always told him to never back down from a claim. If you know it's right, stand by it. If it's proved wrong, own up to it and apologize. Besides, it's better to be safe than sorry; if you look over the existence of one demon, all hell will break out. "I-I still have to be sure, Sunobu-san." 

"Fine, you have to be sure." Oko nods. Honestly, why did Kizano think he could change Oko from his stance on Hanako? There are some claims that Oko has on certain students that you have to pry from his cold dead hands for him to let them go. "Just...try not to tire him out too much and make him skip lunch like today. It makes Amao become a mother hen which annoys Osano and then makes them fight like an old married couple." 

Kizano walks to the door and opens it with the same dramatic flair for no reason. "And Darling," Oko stops in extinguishing the flames, "Maybe cut down on the stalking on your peers from behind trees? It doesn't exactly make them feel at ease." 

~~♡~~

Maybe some of Kizano's advice got through to Oko because at the end of the day on Wednesday, there was a noticeable change in Hanako's behavior. He was actually able to eat his lunch (much to Amao's relief and Hanako's delight) and he didn't seem as paranoid. Of course, there was still the tinge of fear Oko struck into him but Hanako wasn't as paranoid around him like on Monday. In fact, it seemed like Oko opened up a slither to Hanako, enough to where Hanako now talked about Oko as if they were best buds (even though, apparently, Oko only told the underclassman that he liked to read Edgar Allen Poe and was completely unfazed and liked things that tasted sour).

"Hanako, you took the trash bags to the incinerator right?" Osano asks as they were walking out the school. 

"Yup~!" 

"All the way to the incinerator?" Osano further clarifies to make sure, "Close enough to where you pushed the button and burned the trash? Or did you do a throw-and-run like last time and ended up hitting the delinquents again?" Hanako blushes at the incident being brought up and Osano holding back a laugh, "I did take it all the way! And I didn't get beat up either! They were too tired and let me pass." 

That makes Osano let out a laugh and Hanako pouts and shoves his hands into his pockets, sulking, "I can't believe you still find that incident funny. I could've died." No he couldn't have. The delinquents were a 'bit' violent but they wouldn't have killed Hanako. 

"Actually it was kind of funny," Amao shamefully admits, earning a look of betrayal from Hanako. "Amao!" "Oh come on, sugar. From the windows it was like watching a Roadrunner and Coyote episode, yet all I could hear was the Benny Hill theme in my head." 

Kizano playfully 'tchs', "It's a shame I missed school that day." 

Hanako whines as he couldn't believe his misfortune was being compared to a segment on Looney Toons, but stops once he felt something cold and metal in his pocket. Taking it out, Hanako freezes at seeing it was Oko's pocket watch. He forgot to give it back earlier when he quickly put it away (They got caught people-watching by the Basus and had to make a quick getaway). Oh, Oko will have a fit. Hanako looks around the front entrance in distress, trying to find a head of messy dark hair. Which way did he live? Which way? The left! Hanako always sees Oko turn off to the left. "I have to do something!" Hanako starts running in the direction he needed to go. 

"Hanako, what are you doing?!" Kizano calls. 

"Giving something back to Oko!" 

"Can't it wait till tomorrow?!" 

"No, I must do it now!" 

The trio watche as Hanako speeds off to do his ever noble task of returning lost property like a true boy scout. "Is Hanako going to follow Oko all the way home?" Amao asks in slight concern. "Forget following him home, will he break into his house? I mean he already does that to me, sooo…" Seriously, how does Hanako get into his house even when he and his parents aren't home?

~~♡~~

Hanako did manage to catch up to Oko and calls out to him, but he doesn't answer. Was he ignoring him because he was possibly a demon? No, Oko kept his full attention on Hanako with that. Maybe, "Oh! He probably has his pods in and can't hear me." If that was the case, Hanako could just walk up, tap his shoulder, and hand the watch back. But seeing how overly paranoid Oko can be, Hanako didn't want to get pimp slapped on a Wednesday. So, how does Hanako decide to do? 

Follow Oko all the way home like a normal sane person. Totally not a stalker. 

Once Hanako saw Oko turn and walk up to a house he assumed was his, Hanako rushed up to him and tapped his shoulder. "Hey Ok--It's me! It's me! Not the face!" Hanako quickly backs away as Oko turns around, hand up and pulled back to backhand him. "O-oh, H-Hanako," Oko puts his hand down and shyly removes the white pods from his ears, "I-I'm sorry about that." 

"I-It's alright, I shouldn't have done that." Hanako forgets about his main mission for a moment and looks at the house painted a dark grey, "Is this where you live?" 

Oko looks back at the house "Y-yeah, for half my life. D-did you follow me ho--?" Oko had turned back to look at Hanako, but the boy was gone and had moved himself up to the porch instead. Hanako gently touches the wind chime made of blue and white glass circles, painted to look like cartoon eyes. "What's this?" "T-those are evil eyes. T-they ward off bad  vibes spirits." Oko moves up the rest of the way and lets himself into his house, standing to the side. "Y-you might as well come inside." 

"Really?!" Hanako didn't wait for any further confirmation and walked into the house, finding it to be surprisingly normal, almost like Osano's house. Well, minus the exception of the curio case filled with a bunch of dried herbs and skulls, but the house was still homey. 

Oko looked around for someone and once he didn't find them he simply grabbed Hanako's wrist and dragged him up to his room. If Hanako thought it was bad that he was under pressure for suspicion of being a demon by Oko, then he surely didn't want to meet his grandma. At Least not until his name is cleared, or Oko doesn't mention anything."T-this is my room."

"Wow! Your room is so dark, both literally and figuratively, and pretty~!" Hanako looked around the bedroom that looked as if it drew heavy inspiration from the occult room. "You even have aesthetically placed cobwebs on books." Hanako reaches and gently plucks the thin lines of the web. 

"O-oh those aren't fake, those are real." 

Hanako freezes as he looks at the once beautiful web that was now destroyed. He just made a spider homeless. "That makes more seneeeeAhhh." Hanako gasps as he notices the illuminated glass case on the desk, a small terrain was built inside for the two long and noodley creatures inside. "You have snakes?!" 

"M-mhm." Oko walks over and removes the mesh top cover, "I-I had them since forever." Hanako kneels down to get a better look at the snakes, one was orange and white while the other was black and white. "What are their names and how can you tell them apart?" 

"H-Hoax and Ouija. Hoax," He reaches into the case and holds his hand out, letting the orange white snake wrap around his hand. "I-is the one that looks like an orange creamsicle." 

Hanako watches in awe as the snake moves himself around and under Oko's fingers and the boy just lets him, not bothered by it at all. "He does look like an orange creamsicle." "I-I know, but despite his innocent appearance, he's--" Oko stops and looks down at the tiny milk snake, who had his little mouth latched onto his thumb. The first few times of getting bitten, Oko jumped out his skin and even cried, but after a while he just learned to deal with it. The beady eyes almost look at him like a child, "R-Really Hoax? You're going to bite me in front of a guest?" Hoax hisses at him, "O-okay then." Oko sets his hand back into the case, "Back into the warm terrain you go." 

Hanako giggles at the sight of the usually dark and mysterious occult leader talking to his snakes as if they were people. It was...nice seeing a different side of him. "S-so why did you follow me home?" 

"Oh!" Hanko digs into his pocket as he remembers his mission. He seemed to be forgetting a lot of things today. "I wanted to return your--" 

"OKO, IS THAT YOU WHO CAME IN?!" The underclassman jumps and fumbles to catch the watch as the sudden booming voice breaking the 4th sound barrier. Hanako wanted to say it was a woman, but it sounded like a man--

"YES, GRANDMA!" Wait what? 

"I THOUGHT IT WAS GHOST COMING IN!" 

"I THOUGHT GHOSTS DON'T HAVE OR USE KEYS, GRANDMA!" Was Oko Ruto...yelling? And not stuttering in the beginning? 

"Your...grandma?" Hanako asks a bit in a daze. This was a totally new side of Oko, not bad but different...and odd. "M-mhm. Um, father side." 

But despite the shock of Oko raising his voice beyond its barely whisper, Hanako still made himself known and greeted the older woman. "Hello Mrs.Ruto!" 

There was a pause from the woman downstairs, "OKO, WHO'S THAT GIRLY VOICED PERSON IN YOUR ROOM?! DID YOU FINALLY BRING A GIRL HOME?!" 

"NO GRANDMA, HE'S A FRIEND FROM SCHOOL!" 

"YOU HAVE THOSE?! ONES OUTSIDE OF THE OCCULT CLUB?" 

"...YES, GRANDMA!" 

"You do?" 

"N-not really." Oko truthfully admits, "I-it's pretty obvious to everyone that I'm not the best when it comes to people. M-most of my interactions revolve around the paranormal and occult things, but those are things...m-most normal people aren't interested in." It actually scares more people away from Oko than bring them in. It's been like that, ever since primary school. While other kids ran away at the sight of a raccoon or possum, Oko was actively trying to feed the things. When everyone else thought the last classroom at the end of the hall in the basement was haunted and stayed away, Oko went down there every lunch period to try and talk to the ghosts. 

He couldn't really help it. Even when he was only a few months old, he was taught almost everything about the paranormal world from both his parents and grandma, to the point it made it hard for Oko to distinguish fiction from reality. Even though most of reality's problems have paranormal reasonings (atleast to the Rutos). "I-I think I kind shot myself in the foot with that...M-maybe I should be bit less staklish like Sunobu-san said." 

"That could work," Hanako starts, "But...I think you're cool just the way you are." Oko blinks and looks at Hanako in shock, "R-Really?" "Of course~! You're a cool person to me, Oko, and I'll admit, I did find you a bit creepy, but after getting to know you a bit...I realized that you're just a guy passionate about the paranormal and occult things who happens to have a dark aesthetic. And that's pretty great in my book. If others don't see that then," Hanako shrugs, "They don't have taste." 

Oko looks at him for a moment, digesting the words before putting the cover back on the snake enclosure and reaches for something shiny in the pencil holder on the desk, handing it off to Hanako. "H-hold this." 

Hanako looks down at the slightly weighted object in his hand, seeing it's a silver crucifix. "Um…"

"H-how does it feel?" 

"It feels...heavy? Why do you have this in a pencil holder?" 

"I-I didn't have anywhere else to put it. I-is it hot? Does it burn?" 

"No," Hanako answers unsure again, "It's actually cold. Very cold." The underclassman looked around the room and noticed that Oko had a variety of small wooden boxes around the room, almost too many past the normal limit. He had enough storage to last a lifetime, so why the pencil holder of all places? 

Oko looks at the crucifix that was not burning Hanako's demonic flesh. There was still the thought of him being a demon; the fire test said he was a demon, the clock said he was a demon, but the crucifix was not putting his claim on trial, making him heavily second guess Hanako being a demon. They may fool the fire test and the watch, but never a crucifix holding. Touching anything holy gives them in an instance. "H-Hanako, how would like if we p-pushed your retake to tomorrow?"

Hanako gasps, "Really?! Tomorrow?!" 

"Y-Yes-" 

"OKO, ASK YOUR GIRLY FRIEND IF HE WOULD LIKE TO STAY FOR DINNER?!" 

"GRANDMA, IT'S GETTING LATE!" 

"OF COURSE IT'S GETTING LATE, THAT'S HOW THE DAY WORKS. AND WHEN ARE WE SUPPOSED TO EAT DINNER, NOON?!" 

Oko sighs and looks at Hanako a bit defeated, "W-would you like to stay for dinner?" 

"I would be happy too, and about the retake tomorrow," Hanako's eyes twinkled a bit as he pointed to the object in the open closet, "May I wear that tomorrow?" 

~~♡~~

The next day in the courtyard ensured the group some odd and baffled looks, even Shiromo didn't give a snide remake and had a face that read 'what the fuck?' At one particular member of the group. Amao and Kizano look at their younger friend in slight concern (at the possibility of Oko rubbing too much onto him) but Osano was the one to voice it. "Hanako, what the fuck are you wearing?" 

Hanako stands before them wearing a balck clock that is much too large for him and practically pooled at his feet, wearing a ridiculous amount of black eye liner, or was it eye shadow? Whichever it was, it was too much pass the limit and it was nowhere near October to have it pass off as an early Halloween celebration. "A cloak~! Oko moved my retake to prove my innocence today and I wanted to dress the part." 

"Are you wearing eyeliner?" Amao points at his own eyes. Hanako nods, "Yes and I did it all by myself without asking my mom or poking myself in the eye a hundred times--" He only did it ten times. "Did I do a good job~?!" 

Kizano and Amao look at eachother and nod in silent agreement before giving their answer. "Yes/No." Amao looked at Kizano in shock, but his face didn't hold a single ounce of shame in the answer he gave. "Kizano…" 

"I can't lie to him, Amao. I mean, look at him." Kizamo gestures, "He looks like a raccoon who hasn't slept in months or that one assassin with the metal arm in that superhero movie. And he all around looks like a kid playing dress up in his mom's old clothes--Where did you even get that cloak?" 

"Yeah you don't own any cloaks." Osano states. 

"Oko let me borrow it for today. I asked him if I could wear it when I saw it at his house." 

"Wait--" Osano stops the train right before it leaves the station, "You followed him all the way home? I thought you were only dropping something off." 

"I was, but then he let me come inside, and see his room, and see his pet snakes, and then I stayed for dinner--" 

"You stayed for dinner?!" Both Kizano and Osano asked as if Hanako committed high treason. Meanwhile, Amao simply asked, "What did you eat?" 

"..." 

"..." 

"..." 

"What? I'm a cook and I'm curious." 

"Oh we had--" Hanako stops in the middle of answering as he saw two people that could further help his situation with Oko. The Basu brothers. "I have to go and prove my innocence!" Hanako takes off across the green grass to reach the pair, but didn't make it far as the cloak was too big on him. His feet caught onto the fabric and made him trip and kiss the ground face first. Kizano, Amao, and a few other onlookers hiss at the impact. Osano simpmy tched, "Fucking dumbass." 

Noneless, Hanako gets up and brushes the dirt off, scraping up the last of his dignity and catches up to the Basu brothers. "Basu-senpais! Huh-huh...huh-Hello!" Hanako manages to get the greeting while trying to catch his breath. 

"Ah, hello again Hanako," Sakyo smiles a bit at the boy's antics and looks around, "Are you alone today? Is your partner in crime busy?" 

"Or maybe little Oko is hiding behind a wall somewhere again." Inkyo jokes as they both laugh. Hanako brushes whatever dirt that remained on the cloak he didn't get earlier (he was going to have to wash this before giving it back to Oko). "No, I'm alone this morning and it's probably for the best because I know Oko will disagree with what I'm about to do." 

"And what exactly would that be?" 

"Me coming to you and cashing in on that raincheck." 

~~♡~~

"I-I swear we're going to immediately get disband if they ever f-find this stuff." Oko predicts the possible fate of the club as he tries to get the blowtorch to work. Seriously, half the stuff the Occult club has is stuff only the Science club can get away with (and they were always on thin ice). He heard the doors slide open and knew it had to be Hanako since the other members said they would be busy this morning, "H-Hanako, you're finally--" Oko turned around and the words died in his throat as he saw Hanako was not alone. He was accompanied by two people. Two people who Oko has never gone within less than 5 feet of. 

The Basu brothers. 

"Hello Oko~!" Hanako cheerful greets as he saw nothing wrong with the situation in front of them. 

"H-hello. Hanako, a word." Oko grabs him by the cloak and pulls him into the corner of a room, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Why did you bring your paranormal friends here?" 

"I asked them to come." 

"YOU--" Oko quickly lowers his voice (he couldn't raise his voice here) and looks back at the Basus to make sure they didn't hear. "Y-you invited them here. Why?" 

"Because they owe me a small favor." 

"O-Okay but that doesn't answer why they're--" 

"Oko, they're in the same situation as me; being suspected of being a paranormal being. Why shouldn't they get the same chance to prove their innocence as me?" "B-because they can't." "Why not?" "B-because they can't! "But why?" Hanako questions both the other's reluctance and authority, "Why do it for me, even Kizano, but not for them?" "B-Because…" Oko starts, "....because I have serious doubts that you're not a demon. I-In the short amount I've known you, I've never seriously doubted someone of being a supernatural being. N-never. B-but in the long time I've known the Basus, my suspicion of them has n-never wavered." Hanako removes Oko's hands from the cloak, holding them and giving him a small smile. "They still deserve a chance like me to give the benefit of a doubt, don't they?" 

Oko slightly bites the bottom on his lip and shakes his head. "Pleeeease, Oko? Don't make me use the puppy eyes. No one can say no to them." "T-that won't--" Oko pauses as he sees Hanako's eyes become doe like and his bottom lip quivers a bit. "...F-Fine. But if we get killed by their supernatural powers, I-I'm blaming you." Hanako cheers and makes his way back over to the Basus while Oko mumbles how this was a bad idea as he shuffles to light the fire bowl.

"You and Oko seem pretty close Hanako." "Almost past the closeness of friends." Sakyo suggests and Hanako shakes his head. "No, we're just friends. We might even be best friends~!." Hanako gasps at one possibility, "After this, maybe he can join my foursome~!" 

Even that statement made the Basu brothers give Hanako a weird look. "....You're what?/You're what?" 

"Hanako," The boy had little time to react to the bag being thrown at him, "s-sorry. Make then pick a bottle." The underclassman does as instructed and makes Sakyo and Inkyo draw randomly from the bag, and he picks one himself, before they hand them over to Oko. Oko proceeds to dump the power over the fire one by one, Hanako, Sakyo, and finally Inkyo. Each time the flames turned white and it made Oko's stomach drop. 

They were innocent...even the Basus. 

"Y-you're….not a vampire and an incubus?" Oko asks the two in a tone of disappointment and defeat, almost like a child after hearing that their dog, Fluffy, isn't coming back after being hit by a semi truck. 

"A vampire?" "And an incubus?" Sakyo and Inkyo look at each other before laughing at the childish thought. "Oh Oko, love, we know you have a deep passion for the paranormal, but you have to know that there are some things that simply don't exist." 

"Buts it's quite flattering that you think we're attractive enough to be considered an incubus or a vampire." 

Oko turns red at the horrying implication. Never in a million years--! "I-I don't you two are--!" 

"Hanako, love," Inkyo cupw Hanako's face and squishes his cheeks, "this was a wonderful experiment, but me and my brother should be going and getting ready for class now. Please don't hesitate to come talk to us again, yes?" Hanako nods as he lets go of his face and they both take their departure. 

"See Oko, they weren't demons." Hanako doesn't get any sort of response and looks at him, "Oko?" The leader in question had taken out the watch and opened to see where it pointed, just to be sure the fire test was right. Oko held an intenses gaze on the hands on the clock as they didn't point away from the Basus, but continued to point in their direction long after they left the room. They weren't supernatural beings? They weren't supernatural beings his ass. "Y-yeah...they weren't demons."

He pockets the watch and sighs, even though his claim for the Basus were still ever high, the claim about Hanako dissolves completely and he quickly recounts everything he put the boy through. "A-and neither are you. I-I'm sorry for the way I treated you this past week."

"No, no, it's quite alright, Oko." Hanako quickly dismisses the apology, "I actually enjoyed it after a while." 

"B-but I still feel like I need to make it up to you." 

Hanako could feel that Oko wasn't going to drop this because he was like him in a way; needing to right their wrong in any way possible and they can't die (that may be a bit extreme) until they felt they did that. "Well...there is one thing you can do." 

~~♡~~

Oko already felt out of place at school, both personality wise and appearance wise, but this cafe of pinks, white, and yellows instead of pale yellow and white made him feel like a red wine stain on a new white carpet. It didn't help that he was also currently sitting with people he had under previous suspicion of being paranormal beings. "Wow I know they say birds of a feather flock together, but I didn't think you would invite your stalker, tormentor, partner in crime out." 

"It wasn't stalking!" Hanako defends. 

"W-we were observing and gathering information, Najimi--" 

"Uggghh! Don't call me that." Osano hated the formalities used on his last name. It made him feel really old, or it was used as a taut. "Since you're going to be hanging out lit with us, you might as well call me Osano." 

"H-hang out with you?" 

"Yes, it's kinda become this unspoken fate and initiation that if Hanako brings us here, you're going to become part of--" Kizano is proudly cut off by Hanako declaring with no shame, "--Our foursome~!" 

Everyone at the table beside Oko hisses at the name being used, and the proud outburst earned them some weird looks. "No. For the last time, Hanako. We're not a foursome." Osano jabs his finger into the table at every word. Kaede, the waitress who has decided to take on their group since day one, comes back with their order. "You know, I hear the weirdest things whenever I serve you guys and yet I'm still surprised every time." She places down the large plate filled with midnight blue colored cookies, "Try not to choke on them this time Hanako." She playfully reminds as she walks off. "It was one time!" 

Oko was still hung up on the 'joining the foursome' thing. He heard Hanako mention a foursome earlier to the Basu brothers, but he really wasn't paying attention. Hearing again for a second time and seeing Hanako so excited and the others so embrassed, made him seriously question did he somehow get himself involved in a secret sex cult orgy thing? If he did, he was a bit amazed at how they kept this a secret on school grounds. "D-Did I, um,...." Oko really felt embarrassed asking this but he had to know, the blush on face growing and his voice became quieter, "...s-somehow join a 'lewd' vult?" 

The table got silent before everyone started laughing, which didn't reassure Oko until Kizano classifies. "I-it's nothing like that, Oko darling. Nothing like that at all. Hanako just has a very imaginative mind when it comes to naming things. And, honestly, do you think someone like me would get himself involved in a 'lewd' cult?" 

"...y-yes." 

The smiles on Kizano's face seemed permanent for a while at the answer (man, Oko really didn't hold back on bluntness) and it slowly fell down as Osano let out pitched wheezes. "He-He's not wr-wrong!" "Shut up Peasant! At least someone would want to sleep with me." "Yeah, if they're desperate." "I know you're are not talking about desperate--" 

Amao shakes his head as they start to argue again. He should start carrying around a bottle of aspirin just in case anyone forms a headache, but that wouldn't be the safest move. The student council might think he's peddling drugs...they kinda think that now with the cupcakes. Maybe it would be safer to just carry a water spray bottle and train the two like cats?  _ _

"T-they have blue foods?" Oko questions as he picks up a cookie and eats it without hesitation. "I like blue foods." 

"Really? Did your mom make them alot?" 

"Y-yeah actually. How did you figure that out?" Did Oko misdiagnose Amao and should've instead written him off as a mind reading entity instead? 

Amao laughs and shrugs, "Lucky guess because I used to be the same way. When I was younger, green was my favorite color and I used to eat a lot of green foods, which kinda worked in my parents favor in getting me to eat my vegetables. After I learned that con, I switched to the color mint as I learned there were no mint colored vegetables in the world." 

"I-I still like the color blue. There was also the fact that, um" Oko rubs the back of his neck, "That I was reading this American book series at the time and he liked blue foods so..." 

"Wait-!" Kizano pulls away from his argument Osano by pushing his face in the opposite direction ("Don't put your sweat theater hands on me!") And looks at Oko in question. "You read Percy Jackson, a fictional take in Greek mythology, but you haven't read The Crucible, a literal book about witchcraft?" 

"Y-yes because Greek mythology actually has a lot of paranormal--w-why is his face turning like that?" Kizano's eye twitched ever so slightly and his face twisted into something like he drank the most sour lemonade. "It's because he's triggered." Hanako leans over and whispers, taking the cookie out of Oko's hand and eating it.

"Sunobu, don't make a fucking scene. I swear to god I will strangle you in the middle of this Polly Pocket playhouse--" 

"He's never read true classic literature!" Kizano cries as he leans back into his seat as if it was a fainting couch (He actually has one of those, which is being dramatic). 

"To be honest, Kizano, The Crucible was kinda boring...and really sad." Amao's input did not settle the drama queen's scene. 

"Amao right, Kizano. I mean, I fell asleep halfway through the first act~!" 

"Baka, that's because you have the attention span of a goldfish's memory. The only books you've read without any stops or falling asleep is manga and Dr.Seuss." 

"Ahhhhhh!" Kiznao whines louder and already it was getting them more looks than usual. Oko sees Kaede in the back of the cafe making a slicing motion across her neck and then points to Kizano; shut him up. "I-If it makes you feel any better, Kizano, I did read Macbeth." 

Kizano's dramatic whining comes to a brisk halt as he looks up, "You've read Macbeth?" 

"Y-yes?" The answer came out more as a question, "I-Is that bad?" 

"No, no, it's good. Amatuer read but good. Although," Kizano puts his fingers together and trains an intense gaze on Oko, which didn't help the already always nervous boy. "Well have to further expand on that." He would say he was going to cultivate this uncultured gothic swine, but Oko had some culture. This was more of a 'refining the semi cultured swine'. 

He has been trying to do this with Hanako, but the boy is going into the deep end of a 'lost cause'. "Our foursome is a fivesome now~!" 

A total. lost. cause

~~♡~~

"Brother, can you believe we actually passed that test?" 

"I know, right? It's a good thing he didn't have a crucifix or something silver on him, that would've totally toasted my skin." Inkyo looks at the pink mark on the inside of his palm from the last time he touched silver. It surely wasn't in his hands or even by his hands. One of many past bad events in a chain of misfortune. "Do you think little Oko brough it? The test" 

Sakyo lets out a deep breath through his nose and leans forward against the table, "Brother, you and I both know that Oko follows his paranormal beliefs deeply and its methods in finding paranormal beings. With the flame test we saw today, it should've solidified our cover that we're not paranormal and Oko probably took that as the answer...in front of Hanako" Sakyo turns the ring on his finger with his thumb, "We both know he won't give up that easily." 

"What makes you think that, brother?" 

"Because he's a Ruto."


End file.
